


Becoming Real

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: LGBT parents, M/M, Surrogacy, having a baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-06 19:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 103
Words: 131,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10342842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: A married Luke Alvez and Spencer Reid raise baby Diana Alvez-Reid, born via surrogate.Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	1. Chapter 1

“Your bedhead is absolutely ridiculous,” Luke said as his husband pushed up from the bed. Spencer’s hair had grown out again recently and it was sticking out all over the place. “You’re kind of rocking the Albert Einstein right now. Except sexier.”

The longtime BAU agent just grunted. He was not a morning person. Luke was though. How they made it work was a miracle. But when he looked over to see Luke smiling at his bedhead, he realized why - because that smile killed him every time. “So I’m a sexy Albert Einstein?” he laughed. “I’ll take it.”

The night before had been fraught with conversation about how they wanted to go about starting a family. Adoption was an option. Surrogacy was an option. Artificial insemination was an option. A combination of insemination and surrogacy was an option, but after a lengthy and heavy conversation, they decided to sleep on it, saying that in the morning they’d both blurt out the option they felt might work best for them. “So remember what we said last night?” Luke asked, watching as Spencer nodded his head.

“On the count of three,” Spencer replied.

“One…two…three… Surrogate…by insemination.”

“Well, I guess that’s one step in this process that we’ve gotten out of the way,” Luke said, collapsing back into the pillow and rubbing the back of his head with his hand. “Am I rocking the bedhead too?”

He was - massively.

—–

A few days later, the men sat down at the table and started looking through surrogacy agencies. “This is so daunting,” Spencer said as his eyes combed through the plethora of possible agencies. “Where do we even start?”

“We take the plunge and pick an agency to look into,” his husband replied. It was the weekend, so they decided to dedicate the entire day to looking at agencies. 

Over the next few hours, they combed through agency after agency finding one reason or another not to go with them, until finally, Spencer pointed one out that might work. “What about this one?” he asked. “They are a national agency and they seem to have great reviews from people that have used them. They’re completely open to LGBT parents, and they can try and look local first before looking for someone across the country.”

As Luke looked over Spencer’s shoulder, his eyes glanced over the various web pages. Of course, Spencer was right. This agency looked like it would be perfect for them. “I like them. Now what?” he laughed.

“Now, we apply and then hopefully get to search through some files I guess.”

While Spencer pulled up the application, Luke found his mind wandering to what his husband had said early - this was going to be an insanely complicated process.

—–

Within two weeks, their application had been accepted, so they were allowed to look through profiles of possible surrogate mothers. “There’s another question we haven’t actually discussed,” Luke said. “Which one of us would be the donor?”

Luke had always thought Spencer, but he wasn’t sure what Spencer thought. “I would be fine with either of us,” he said truthfully. “Were you thinking either one of us in particular?”

“You actually,” he replied, much to Spencer’s surprise. “Why do you look so stunned? You have the genius brain. I want our kid to be a genius like you.”

“But I have a pretty fucked up medical background,” he replied. Luke hadn’t actually thought about that. They’d have to discuss it further. But for now, they’d focus on the mother. They’d been filing through possible surrogate mothers, for four hours.

They hadn’t looked up from their prospective stacks of papers for hours, when all of a sudden Spencer heard Luke’s papers fall to the floor. “What about her?” The woman’s name was Kailanni Carter, age 28. She was African-American and lived right outside the city. She had a near perfect medical background, with the exception of an astigmatism, which was basically nothing; they wanted to make sure that whether or not Spencer or Luke was the father, the mother’s DNA was as healthy as possible. She had two kids of her own already, and was looking to supplement the family’s income, while she raised her two kids, both boys. Each mother had to answer a question as to why they wanted to pursue surrogacy, and Spencer and Luke had purposely looked past women who were purely doing it for the cash; they wanted someone that was truly open to the idea of surrogacy. Kailanni however said she’d been surrounded by friends that couldn’t have their own children, and she’d been lucky enough to have two, so being a surrogate would allow her to help someone else in the way she couldn’t do for her own friends. “I like her.”

“Me too,” Spencer said. “Do we want to see if the agency can match us?”

“Definitely.”

—–

Another three weeks passed before the agency was able to get in contact with Kailanni Carter, but once they did, she and her husband Skyped with Spencer and Luke. They immediately hit it off. The only question they originally had for her, was whether or not she was truly okay with the baby being biologically hers. She said that preferably she’d be able to be introduced to the child at some point, but that if that wasn’t okay she was still fine with being the biological mother. Both Luke and Spencer had absolutely no problem with her being part of their child’s life.

“Oh my god, you guys are adorable,” she said, clapping her hands together as her husband sat beside her. “I would love to be a surrogate for you.”

“Yes!” Spencer said, turning into Luke and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Now where do we go from here?” This process seemed to be a never-ending line of achieving something and then going “now what,” but they were enjoying every stage of the journey. 

“Now, I start on some medications and then we’ll do the first insemination. Then hopefully I’ll be pregnant soon,” she responded. Apparently not all mothers hated being pregnant. Anyone they knew had started losing their minds being pregnant pretty early on, but Kailanni said she enjoyed each and every second she was pregnant with her boys. “Probably on account of the fact that I was never sick,” she laughed.

“We really can’t thank you enough.” Luke slunk his arm around Spencer’s shoulder and pulled him close. They’d been married for nearly four years now, and had been discussing a family since the very beginning. It was finally starting to become real. 

—–

For nearly four weeks, Kailanni went on medications that would help the process along, until finally they were ready. After much deliberation, they’d decided that it was best for the biological father to be Luke. With schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s running in his background, he didn’t want to take the chance of passing that onto his child.

Neither Spencer nor Luke could make it to the original doctor’s appointment, but they both vowed that if this took, one of them would be there for every doctor’s appointment during the course of the pregnancy. “We have about two weeks until we’ll find out whether or not she’s pregnant,” Luke said to the rest of the team.

“I can’t believe someone is gonna have your kid, newbie,” Garcia laughed playfully.

He cut his eyes at her. They’d been working together for four years now, and yet somehow he was still newbie. “It’s gonna be a long two weeks.”

—–

Spencer and Luke had nearly combusted with joy when Kailanni called 17 days later to tell them that she was pregnant. “I have my first appointment with the OBGYN in two days.”

“Well,” Luke started, throwing a balled up piece of paper towards his husband’s desk. “I guess since I’m the bio dad, it’s only fair that you get to go to the first doctor’s appointment.”

Kailanni’s husband was at work during the appointment, so it was only her and Spencer, but as soon as the little bean-like picture showed up on the screen, both burst into tears. “That’s my kid,” Spencer said as he wiped a tear from his eyes. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she said as she grabbed his hand. “Here’s hoping for smooth sailing from here on out.”

—–

Over the next few months, Kailanni made a point to call every week and let them know how she was doing. “Baby’s fine,” she said, pointing to her stomach. “But I do have another appointment coming up in three days and I think both of you should be there. That is, if you plan on finding out the sex of the baby.”

“Oh definitely…right?” Spencer asked hopefully. He really didn’t want to wait, but he would if Luke really wanted to. “We’re going right?”

“Yes, we’ll be there.”

The following three days ground down to a snail’s pace. Everyone on the team noticed. “You get to find out the sex of the baby tomorrow, right?” JJ asked excitedly.

“Yup!” Luke replied. “I can’t wait.”

That morning was filled with nervous energy, both fathers tripping over their clothes in an attempt to make it the appointment early. They wanted to make sure the baby was healthy more than anything else - that nothing had changed over the past few months.

Both of them excitedly hugged Kailanni as they walked into the office together and back toward the examination room. As the OBGYN put the gel on her stomach, she asked if either of them were hoping for either sex in particular. Honestly, neither of them cared as long as the baby was healthy. Undoubtedly, boy or girl, both would elicit the same reaction - tears, kisses and hugs all around. “Alright everyone, everything looks perfectly healthy and if you want, I can tell you the sex of the baby.”

All three waited with bated breath. “It’s a girl!”

Kailanni screamed with just as much as excitement as Spencer and Luke did - she’d never had a girl.

“Oh my god,” Luke said, swallowing hard as he pushed his hair back. “We’re gonna have a little girl. That’s so…cool!”

Spencer snorted in the corner, the tears rolling down his face as he realized that he and Luke were finally going to have the family they’d always wanted. “We have to start thinking of names now,” he said to Luke.

“Oh man, we do,” he laughed. “That’s going to be really hard.”

—–

After finding out they were going to have a girl, both fathers went to work crafting the perfect nursery. Neither of them was really into the traditional pink and white, so they went with white as a base and baby green and purple for the colors. Above the crib was her name, which they’d debated on for nearly a month, finally picking the perfect name, Diana Kailanni, after Spencer’s mother and their surrogate, who without none of this would be possible. 

She broke down when she visited and saw the nursery. “You’re naming the baby after me!?”

“We couldn’t do this without you,” Spencer said. “Literally.” She was just weeks away from delivering baby Diana. For the rest of the day, she spent time with both men, going over everything they might need to know as new parents.

“I’m telling you both right now,” she laughed, “when you first bring her home, you are going to have zero idea of what you’re doing. Don’t get scared. It comes to you more quickly than you think.”

Within two-to-three weeks, they were going to be a family.

—–

It was barely 3:30 AM when Luke was woken up by his phone nearly two and a half weeks later. “Babe,” he said, waking up a sleeping Spencer, “Wake up. Baby’s coming.”

“Oh shit,” he said, popping up and tripping into the closet where his clothes were. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.”

They probably shouldn’t have abused their power as officers, but they did, ensuring that no one would get in their way, even at 3:30 AM, by putting the siren on top of the car. As they walked in, they were ushered into the room where Kailanni and her husband were. Having already had two kids, she was fairly far along, so Diana would be coming sooner rather than later. “How are you feeling?” Luke asked, feeling horrible as she experienced another contraction. 

“Not too bad actually,” she said through clenched teeth. “I felt worse with the boys, and she’s going to come much more quickly than they did.”

Spencer remembered her telling them that she had been in labor for nearly 36 hours with her first son and just under 24 with the second, so given that she was going to go from water breaking to delivering in about eight hours total, she counted her blessings. “Okay, let’s check and see how far along we are,” the OBGYN said as she walked in. While she was getting checked out, her husband held her one hand while Spencer and Luke took turns holding the other. “You are ready to go,” she said. “Are you all actually ready?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Spencer laughed. The room was filled with screams and cries, but only for about 20 minutes. When she pushed for the last time, Spencer was holding her hand while Luke watched as their child was born.

“She’s here!” he said excitedly, pumping his fists in the air. “She’s beautiful.”

Kailanni and Spencer dissolved into tears and Luke soon followed, until everyone in the room, including the OBGYN, were flooded in tears. “You guys are very lucky,” the doctor said. “She’s gorgeous.”

“Thank you so much, Kailanni,” Luke said, placing the baby in her arms after kissing his husband. “As long as you want to be involved in her life, we want you to be there.”

With tears in her eyes, a mixture of both sad and happy, she cradled the little girl in her arms. She was so glad she was able to do this for someone, even though it would be hard to let her go. “I’d be honored to watch her grow up,” she said. “You’re both going to make great parents.”


	2. First Week Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A highlighted look at Spencer and Luke's first week home with baby Diana.

“Help us,” Spencer whispered into the phone. “We’re dying.” JJ was taking a nap when he called, but as soon as she heard the distress in his voice she bolted up from the sofa.

“What’s wrong, Spence?” she said, getting up and slipping on her coat, before checking on her own boys. “Where are you? What’s wrong?” He sounded awful. 

There was a bit of hesitation on the other line, before she realized what was wrong. “Luke and I have no idea what we’re doing. We’re so bad at this. Help.” It was their first week home with baby Diana. New father jitters. That was it. She took a deep breath, a sigh of relief; she’d thought it was much worse.

“Why are you whispering?” she asked. It was what had thrown her off. “She’s asleep right now, isn’t she?”

“Yessss,” he hissed quietly. “But when she wakes up, we don’t know what the fuck to do. Help us, JJ.”

Laughing, she told him she’d be right over. “Just breathe, Spence. I’m sure you’re doing everything fine. You’re just nervous.”

—–

Fifteen minutes later, she walked in the door to a deathly-looking Spencer and Luke. A three-day old baby was about the hardest thing ever. “Oh, you guys haven’t slept at all, have you?” They looked like they’d been to hell and back.

Both men shook their heads from side-to-side, slowly, as if that’s all their bodies could muster after three days without consistent sleep. Luke and Spencer had paternity leave for three months, but three days in they felt like they were dying - at least 18 more years. As JJ walked over to the bassinet in the corner to take in the picture of the sleeping baby, Luke fell backward onto the couch and closed his eyes. “Oh my god JJ, how did you do this? Twice?” he asked.

“Because I love my boys,” she said. “You’ll be able to do this too. I know it’s overwhelming.”

Spencer sidled up to JJ and took her by the shoulders. “So. Very. Overwhelming. What if we’re doing this wrong? What if she ends up screwed up beyond all recognition because we suck at this?” Luke smiled in the background, his sleep deprivation causing him to fall into a fit of laughter. 

“There is no way, that two men such as yourselves, perfectly capable in literally every area of life, will screw up this little girl. Look at her,” she said softly, pointing to the little one now drooling down the side of her face. “She’s perfect. Will is at home with the boys, so how about this. The two of you go inside and take a nap. I know where all the diapers and clothes are, and in two hours I’ll wake you up.”

“JJ?” Luke asked, pushing up from the couch and grabbing Spencer’s hand. “I love you.” As the two new fathers walked inside, JJ pulled up a seat to sit next to the bassinet. While they slept, she’d stare in awe at the beautiful newborn. She was perfectly plump and adorable. They’d be fine. They just felt completely out of their element - which they were. All new parents were. It would take time.

Once Spencer and Luke had closed the door, the both fell onto the bed, taking on a similar look to the new baby, drooling into their pillows in a matter of minutes.

—–

Knock. Knock.

It had been a little over two hours, but Diana was such a good baby and Spencer and Luke needed sleep, so JJ let them sleep a little more before waking them. “Time to get up guys,” she said softly as she rapped on the door some more. Although still tired, the two emerged from the bedroom infinitely more rested than when they went in. 

“Hey baby,” Spencer said, reaching out for Diana. She was safely nesting in JJ’s arms at the moment, completely content. “Were you good for Aunt JJ?” He could’ve sworn she smiled, although physically impossible at three days old, and could’ve cried.

“She’s an angel,” she said, giving both fathers and baby a kiss on the cheek. “She’s all changed. I fed her less than 30 minutes ago. But now I gotta get back to my boys. Call me if you have any questions, okay?” After shrugging her coat on again, she came up to the two of them and put a hand on each of their faces. “You are more capable than you think. Just breathe.”

“Thanks for letting us sleep, JJ,” Luke said, resting his head on Spencer’s shoulder. “That was necessary.”

“No problem,” she laughed. “Talk to you later.”

—–

Later than night, after she’d been fed another couple times and had infinite diaper changes, they put her down so they could go to sleep. She was out within a few minutes, so they took the opportunity, though only 8 o’clock, to go to sleep. It was about 10 PM when she woke up again, so Luke took the first shift while Spencer slept. At 11:30, she needed a quick change and from then on, the two switched back and forth. “Babe,” Luke said, smacking Spencer awake at around 4 o’clock in the morning. “She’s crying again. Your turn.”

“Got it,” he said, popping up from the bed. He walked into nursery to see a distressed Diana. “It’s okay, honey.” Carefully, he put his hands under her tiny body and lifted her onto the changing table, taking nearly 10 minutes to get the squirming infant comfortable again. Then he went out to the kitchen to prepare a bottle and went back to the rocking chair in the nursery.

She was hungry - very - because as soon as he put the bottle in her mouth she calmed down. Within a half hour, she was done and Spencer placed her back in the crib. He was heavy with exhaustion, so instead of walking back to the bedroom, he sat back down in the rocking chair and rocked himself to sleep within seconds.

—–

It was nearly 6:30 AM when Diana started crying again. Luke knew it was his turn, so he pushed up to find that Spencer wasn’t there. Maybe he had Diana already? But he didn’t, when Luke walked into the room, he saw Spencer dead asleep in the chair, his hair an utter mess and the bags under his eyes as dark as the night sky. After picking up Diana, he turned to his husband. “Babe,” he whispered.

“Hmmm…” he mumbled as his head picked up from the chair. “What’s wrong? Something wrong?”

“Nothing,” he laughed. “Go back to bed for a little bit. I’ll wake you up in an hour.”

In a trance, Spencer stood up from the chair and bent down to kiss the baby on the changing table. “Night, Luke,” he said, giving his hubby a peck on the lips. “You think we can actually do this?”

“We’ll be exhausted…but yes.”


	3. She's Talking About Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's first word is what you think, but who is she talking to? XD

For months now, Spencer had been introducing Diana to language by talking to her as though she was an adult, for the most part at least. Whatever you’d call it, while he walked around the house and did what he had to do, he would narrate what he was doing; he knew that from very early on she was tuning in to what they were saying. “You know she has no idea what you’re saying, right babe?” Luke laughed, watching as Diana threw her toy on the floor from the high chair.

“I know she doesn’t. Yet,” he said, putting his finger under Diana’s chin so she’d look at him. “But she will. Right Diana?” As she babbled (it was actually more like making spit bubbles), Spencer bent down to kiss her on the forehead. “We have dinner in less than 25 minutes, so I’ll go get ready.” Luke was already all set to go and the baby bag was already packed, so while Spencer got changed, Luke just sat back, staring at their beautiful little baby girl and wondering how she was already eight months old.

When she looked his way, he waved and she smiled right at him, so he took a picture and sent it to Kailanni. “The little munchkin is getting so big,” he texted her. “She’s going to start talking any day now. And she really looks like you.” She had Luke’s eyes and nose, but Kailanni’s skin tone and smile. She was a perfect little angel and the absolute light of their lives. Spencer and Luke had even introduced her to Kailanni’s two boys. 

“Ready?” Spencer asked as he walked out, dressed in a pair of nice jeans, a t-shirt and blazer. “You texting Kailanni?” 

“Yep,” he said, standing up and kissing him. “Had to send her this picture.” Spencer smiled wide at the picture of his mother’s namesake. “You’re also looking damn fine in those jeans,” Luke said, smacking his ass.

“She is the most beautiful baby in the world,” he laughed. “And thanks, I may just let you near it later, but for now, we have to go.”

—–

“How are you boys doing?” Emily asked as they walked in the restaurant, Diana resting comfortably in Spencer’s arms. As they sat down, he handed her off to Emily, so Diana could make her way around the table and everyone could coo and fawn over the semi-new addition to the perfect makeshift family. When she made her way to Penelope, Auntie held her hostage.

“She’s mine now, newbie,” she said to Luke before looking at the baby. “I can’t wait until you’re a little older and can have fun opening presents.”

Once they’d placed their orders, they asked for a high chair and seated the baby between them, so they could eat. Even at this age, she was a fairly well-behaved baby, rarely making a fuss when they went out in public. After surviving her first two months, where she’d cried incessantly, they were lucky enough to have a very happy baby. “She’ll hopefully start walking, or trying to at least, in a couple of months,” Spencer said, taking out a baby wipe and wiping the drool off of his daughter’s chin. “How are you so drooly? Where does it all come from?”

After putting the rag back into the baby bag, the waiter came with everyone’s food. “Da…da…dada…dada…” the baby said, waving her arms up and down while she looked between her daddies. At the sweet sound of baby babbles, both men nearly cried, immediately pulling out their phones to document the occasion for her birth mother.

“Yes!” Luke exclaimed. “She’s saying dada. We need to video this for Kailanni.”

“When she said dada, she looked at me,” Spencer said with a slight smirk, causing JJ to snort. “She was obviously talking to me.” He knew he was picking a fake fight, but Luke was so easy to reel in, Spencer couldn’t help himself. 

Luke’s tongue pushed up behind his lip as he cut his eyes at his husband. “I mean, if we’re gonna have this conversation, I must point out that she only said the syllables in your direction, but when she actually got the word, she was looking at me, so she was definitely talking to me.” 

The two stared at each other, while the rest of the team looked on and started to eat. Without breaking eye contact, both Luke and Spencer began to pick at their food while Diana waved her arms about and continued to get used to her new word. “She was obviously talking to me,” Luke said, doing a really bad version of the sneeze talk. (On purpose, of course.) God, Spencer hadn’t heard that since high school. That was pretty bad.

“Really?” he laughed. “The sneeze talk? Is that how we’re going to play this? She was absolutely talking to me.”

“What if she was talking to both of you?” JJ asked with a smile, nearly spitting out her water when both Luke and Spencer snapped their heads violently in her direction.

“She was talking about me.”

“No, she was talking about me!”

Penelope was sitting at Luke’s side and Emily at Spencer’s. With a glance, the two women looked at each other and smacked the boys on the back of the head. “In this scenario, which one of you is the baby?” Rossi asked. “Because the more you two talk, the more I’m thinking it’s one or both of you.” He motioned for Spencer to pick Diana up out of the high chair and pass her over.

Once in Uncle Rossi’s lap, he turned her toward him. “Okay Diana, where is dada?” He stood her up on his lap so she could see the whole table, asking her again where her dada was. 

“Dada, dada, dada,” she muttered, flailing her arms in Penelope’s direction, much to her auntie’s excitement.

“Ah, yay!” she said. “Give her to me!”

“I think that settles it,” he laughed, passing the baby to Penelope. “She has said her first word, but has no idea who that actually is. You both lose.”

“You know, Rossi,” Luke said, as he placed another piece of steak in his mouth, “you sure know how to be a buzzkill.”


	4. Walk to Daddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's first steps.

“Luke!” Spencer screamed. “Kailanni!” Quickly, he crumpled up a piece of paper from nearby and threw it at his husband’s head. “She’s trying to walk! LOOK!”

Kailanni was over for a visit with the baby she’d so selflessly had for them just nine and a half months earlier. She’d been over quite a few times, but today was the first day she’d ever tried to walk. Spencer couldn’t contain himself. Within seconds, he was crying, watching his little girl attempt to take her first steps. “Oh my god!” Kailanni cried, turning around and smiling at the little girl. “How’re you so big already? It wasn’t even a year ago that you came out of me!”

“She can’t be trying to walk already,” Luke said in disbelief. “She’s barely ten months. Maybe she’s a genius.”

“I mean, that makes sense,” Spencer smiled, waving Diana’s favorite stuffed puppy by his face as an incentive. “She is my baby too. I don’t care if she doesn’t have my DNA.” He marveled at the tiny human attempting to make her way in the world. They were so lucky.

While Luke and Spencer enjoyed their baby’s first new steps, Kailanni pulled out her phone, documenting each wobble and fall for the new fathers, so that they could stay in the moment for as long as they could. Time flew by so fast - you had to take advantage of it every day.

—–

That was a month and a half ago. Now, Diana was just over a year old and as each day went by, her steps became firmer and more cemented to the ground. “Babe!” Luke called into the bedroom, nearly going hoarse with the volume he’d screamed. “She is almost walking right now! Get out here!”

“Dada,” she muttered taking a few steps and then toppling over slightly, catching herself just before she hit the ground. “Dada.” Luke smiled wide as Diana spoke his name. She was at the point where she could identify both Spencer and himself as dada, and it never ceased to be one of the most amazing feelings in the world. They’d never expected to be where they were now, so seeing and hearing her grow was a gift they cherished every day. “Dada,” she said again, this time looking in Spencer’s direction.

“Diana!” he exclaimed, bringing his hands up to the sides of his face and crouching down to the ground. “Come to daddy.”

She took a few steps in his direction and then Luke distracted her. “Diana,” he singsonged with his arms wide open. “Walk to daddy.” 

From down the hallway, Spencer cut his eyes at his husband. “Are we going to do this? I know how to torture you. I can…” Then he thought better of himself deciding to keep the thoughts to himself lest Diana decide to repeat what he said as one of her first sentences. But Luke laughed; he knew exactly what Spencer meant. Normally, he would care, but Diana’s first steps were too big and he wanted her to walk to him first.

“You won’t torture me,” Luke said matter-of-factly, waving in Diana’s direction. “I’m too cute. You love me.”

God, Spencer hated when he was right. But dammit. He wanted Diana to walk over to him and Luke was distracting her. “True,” he replied. “But it doesn’t mean you aren’t annoying. When is Garcia coming over?”

“Should be here in ten minutes. Until then, we make a bet,” Luke said. “She walks to me first, I get to pick out the outfit you wear on our next date. And if she walks to you first, then you get to pick the next new thing we try in bed.”

“You’re on.” Spencer was gleeful at the prospect. There was something he’d been wanting to try - try and flip the script on Luke. He rubbed his hands together, smiling as he twisted his fakey, barely-there mustache that had grown in just after his beard. “Walk to Daddy, Diana.”

A few steps and she fell, righting herself almost immediately, before going back to what she was doing. “Diana,” Luke singsonged again. “Come to Daddy.” For nearly five minutes, the two laughed like idiots as Diana took two steps, got distracted, and turned around to the opposite father, never actually making it to either one of them.

Knock. Knock.

“It’s open, Garcia!” Spencer screamed, not taking his eyes off his daughter. As soon as Garcia’s brightly-colored dress made its way into the room, Diana turned around, walking to her without a moment’s hesitation. “Dammit!” He exclaimed, before smacking his hand up to his mouth. With his luck, dammit was going to become a big part of her new vocabulary.

Garcia clapped with joy as Diana approached her, finally picking her up and placing her on her hip. “What’s dammit?”

“We had a bet to see which one of us she would walk to first,” Spencer said, pressing a kiss to Diana’s cheek and then embracing Garcia in a warm hug.

“And who won?” Garcia laughed, dancing around the living room. Diana was squealing with excitement. “And what was the bet?”

“Not telling,” Luke replied. Not a chance in hell he was going to tell Garcia. “And you did. You won.”

“Ha! In your face Newbie and Boy Genius!”


	5. Bad Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do Luke and Spencer deal with Diana's first curse word?

Luke was in the kitchen cooking. He’d run out of some crucial ingredients, so Spencer had run out to the store for him; he never liked to stand still - his brain or body always had to be moving. After he ran out, Luke texted him to tell him to grab some things for Diana’s second birthday which was coming up soon. Might as well be prepared. A thump sounded behind him and out of nowhere, he heard it. His baby’s first curse word.

“Oh, shit,” she said, looking down at the bottle on the floor. “Dada.” She looked his way and Luke had to do everything not to laugh. He didn’t know whether to correct her or be proud that she used the word in the correct context at barely two years old, but the parent in him won out. While he approached her, he lifted his hand to his mouth to hide the smile.

As he picked up the bottle and gave it back to his daughter, he laughed. “We don’t say that word, Diana. That’s a bad word.” She looked like she comprehended, but he wasn’t sure, and he didn’t want to repeat the word. With the bottle back in her hand, she stared at him blankly, and now he felt like he’d been too hard on her, so he bet down to kiss her forehead. “Daddy loves you.”

Turning around, he went back to the kitchen and started chopping plantains when once again, he heard a thud on the ground. Luke spun around to see his daughter smiling at the bottle on the floor, but when she met his gaze. “Shit!”

“No, baby, no,” Luke said, his eyes going wide as he realized he was going to a very foul-mouthed infant. This was so bad. He was going to have to smack himself and kill Spencer for cursing so randomly in front of her, because of course that’s what she would pick up on. Diana couldn’t randomly spout some statistic about chess that she’d heard 100 times while she watched her Daddy play, no, she had to very correctly use the word “shit” when something dropped on the floor. Lovely. “We don’t say that word. That’s a bad word.”

“What bad word?” she asked, tilting her head in confusion. He slapped his hand down his face as he came to the conclusion he was going to have to say the word again to try and explain that she wasn’t supposed to say that. 

Apparently, she found Luke hitting himself in the face very funny. “The ‘s’ word,” he started, “shit, that’s a bad word. We don’t say that word, okay?”

Nearly 30 minutes after he’d first left, Spencer walked back into the apartment, surprised to see Luke staring so seriously at their toddler. “What’s happening here?” he asked, bending down to give her an endless stream of kisses before giving Luke one too.

“Nothing,” Luke lied, kissing her on the forehead again and returning to the kitchen. “Just saying hi while I waited for my food.” He took the bag from his husband’s hand and started on the rice, beans and chicken that he was going to mix with some friend plantains. While Luke continued cooking, Spencer sat on the couch with a book, closing it every five seconds when Diana dropped something on the floor. Thankfully, she hadn’t said any other bad words.

“Why do you keep looking at her like that?” Spencer chuckled as Luke’s head spun around to stare cautiously at the baby for what felt like the 40th time. 

Luke sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Well, our daughter knows a new word.”

“Really?” he said excitedly. She was growing up so fast. So advanced for her age. About six months ahead of schedule, she was able to form complete but simple sentences, such as ‘I eat now.’ On top of that, she was also starting to add an ‘s’ at the end of words if she wanted to make it plural. He stared in awe at the little girl he never thought he’d be lucky enough to have. “What’s she saying now?”

“Look at me,” Luke said, catching Spencer’s eyes before mouthing the word so Diana couldn’t hear.

“Oh no…” he laughed. “Did she use it correctly?” Luke said yes. He kind of wanted to be proud. “Our baby’s so advanced!”

“Babe!” he exclaimed, placing some rice in a pan to mix with the beans, chicken and plantains. “We cannot encourage that kind of language from an infant. I don’t give a shit if…” Oh that’s why she’d latched on to that word. They both let it fly without even realizing it. “I don’t care if she’s a foul-mouthed teenager. I was too, but she’s barely two!”

Spencer nodded. “I know, I know. I’ll make sure to keep an ear out. But you have to admit that’s impressive. That’s like a three-to-four year old thing. Cursing.”

About 10 minutes later, Luke had finally finished with dinner, bringing the highchair up to the table so that she could sit between them as they ate dinner. Spencer took his first bite of food, grateful for a husband that was a good cook. Just as he was about to go for a second spoonful, with a bit of sweet plantain too, Diana knocked her toy off the highchair. “Oh fuck,” she mumbled, slapping her hand to her head.

“Oh no,” Spencer said, turning his head to hide his laughter from their daughter. “Morgan is going to have a field day with this. I remember last year when Hank said his first curse…Morgan almost pissed himself.”


	6. Happy Birthday Diana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's second birthday party.

Diana whizzed by - red and blue Captain America shirt, pink sparkly tutu and black shoes - all picked out by her. It was her second birthday after all. Spencer and Luke figured why not let her pick out exactly what she wanted to wear today. As she ran around the apartment, she looked like a rainbow, flitting across the apartment as quickly as a rainbow leaves the sky after a storm. “Diana!” Luke screamed, “Be careful! Don’t hurt yourself!”

“But it’s my birthday, dada!” she said, the “th” turning into an “f” as her tongue hit her two front teeth. Since she began talking, Luke had became dada and Spencer was daddy. 

“That it is,” he said, lifting her up so Spencer could give her a kiss. “How old are you today?”

With two fingers, she exclaimed. “Two! Look, I’m two daddy!” 

Spencer took her two fingers, kissing the tips before planting an enormous kiss on her head, her little baby puffs of hair tickling his face. “Such a big girl already, I can’t believe it!” he said. There was no way she came into their lives two years ago already - the time had flown by. But they were enjoying every second of it. 

“You go play for a little while longer before your aunts and uncles get here,” Spencer said, taking her from Luke’s arms and placing her on the floor. In a flash, she was running around the apartment again. “Is there any way we can bottle that kind of energy?” he asked his husband. 

Luke watched in awe at the little bolt of lightning running around the apartment. The team and the rest of their friends would be here in less than 30 minutes. “I wish,” he laughed.

While Diana ran around, playing with her dolls and cars and stuffed animals, Spencer and Luke set up the table, prepped another table to put her presents on, and finished cooking. Luke made dinner and Spencer made the cake. At least, Spencer tried to make the cake. “I am praying she doesn’t remember this birthday,” he said as he looked down at the cake he fucked up. “I am not good at this. I was not meant to bake.” 

Walking over to his side, Luke kissed Spencer on the cheek. “It’s perfect. All she’s going to care about is how it tastes, and it’s chocolate so she’s good.” Ten minutes ahead of schedule, Garcia showed up, too excited to show Diana her birthday present to wait at home any longer. 

“Diana!” she said, scooping the two-year-old off the floor. 

“Auntie Penelope!” Auntie JJ! Uncle Will!” Apparently, JJ and Will were right behind Penelope on the stairs. 

“Dinner looks delicious,” Will drawled, looking at the array of Italian food. They both figured they’d make Italian for everyone else and Diana and the other kids would have dinosaur chicken nuggets, as had been the staple lately. “The cake looks good too.” He slapped Spencer on the shoulder with a look of pity and recognition; he too had made his fair share of crappy-looking cakes. 

As Hotch entered the room with Jack, as well as Morgan, Savannah and Hank, JJ and Penelope put their gifts on the table. Penelope, of course, went with something super girly, a giant stuffed bunny decked out in a pink and purple sequined outfit - it wasn’t even going to fit in her new bed. And JJ went with a play power tool set. Luke and Spencer agreed they wanted her to be surrounded by “boy” and “girl” toys - whatever she wanted to play with was fine by them. Jack said hi to Diana and then went off to play with Henry, who’d also come with JJ and Will. 

“Happy birthday, Diana,” Hank said, walking up to the little girl. She gave him a hug and they sat down to play, taking a doll and a dinosaur and putting them in her toddler doll house that she’d picked out at the toy store last week - an early birthday present from her loving dads. They couldn’t help it and picked a v-tech to give her today. Hotch, Morgan and eventually Emily, placed their own gifts on the table - a building block set from Hotch, a stack of books meant for kids slightly older, that Diana was already beginning to understand, from Morgan, and a customized, multicolored puzzle that spelled out her name from Emily. 

After grabbing the kids’ food from the oven, mainly frozen pizzas, chicken nuggets and french fries, the adults sat down at the table and ate baked ziti and a bunch of sides, leaving everyone supremely stuffed. “Diana, you wanna open presents now?” Luke asked, laughing out loud when she ran over and fell into his lap. As each gift was opened, Luke or Spencer would whisper in her ear who got her the gift and she’d go over and give them a hug. 

When it came to Garcia, she almost didn’t let her go. “She’s so fluffy, I can’t.” Diana, of course, opened her gifts quickly. Advanced as she was, she didn’t have an insanely long attention span. 

“Cake time!” Spencer said, bringing his deformed monstrosity of a cake proudly to the table. He couldn’t have fucked it up too badly, because Diana knew what it was. 

“Doggie,” she smiled. A burning candle in the shape of a two sat on top, and team began singing happy birthday. While everyone sang, Diana smiled, staring deeply at the cake and waving her hands about in excitement. The pure joy on her face brought tears to her fathers’ eyes. By the end of the happy birthday, Spencer had full-on cried and Luke was desperately trying to hold it in and failing. “You sad, Daddy?” she asked Spencer.

“No, baby. These are happy tears. I just can’t believe how big you are.” He wouldn’t change this feeling for anything in the world, especially when his daughter stood up on Luke’s lap and leaned over to hug her daddy. “Birthday girl gets cake first.” Taking the knife in his hand, he made a small slice, putting on a plate for his daughter and laughing hysterically when she picked half the piece up in her hand and stuffed it in her face.

As everyone else ate their cake, Diana sat in Luke’s lap, licking the icing on her fingers and leaving her hands sticky and sugary. At one point, she leapt off of Luke’s lap and went to go play, but apparently, she still had icing on her hands. “Umm, Spence,” JJ said, pointing backward toward the hallway. “Someone is totally wiping icing all over the walls.”

“Diana!”


	7. The Monster in the Closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana has a nightmare about the monster in the closet.

“Daddy! Dada!”

Immediately, both Spencer and Luke popped up in bed, panic flashing across their eyes as their daughter screamed for them - or were they just hearing things.

No.

Again, she called for them, the fear in her voice evident - shaky. Without another thought, both men put their feet on the floor, running as fast as they could to her room. “Diana,” Spencer said, making his way into the room with Luke right behind him. “What’s wrong, honey?” She was cowering, her little arms hugged tightly around her feet. When Spencer put his hand on her, she was shaking uncontrollably.

“There’s a monster in the closet,” she said, her eyes filling with tears as she pointed to the closet doors. “He’s big, with bumpy, red skin, and his teeth are sharp. I see him when I close my eyes.” As she stared intently at the closet door, the tears falling onto her blue pajamas, she hugged her stuffed dog as close to her body as she could. Luke was afraid the head would pop off she was clutching it so hard. “I don’t wanna go to sleep.” She looked up. Her eyes pleading with them to make the image in her head go away. It killed them both that they couldn’t take her fear away, but they couldn’t, so they’d just have to try to ease her fears. 

Luke came out from behind Spencer, kneeling down by their daughter’s new big-girl bed. “Monsters aren’t real,” he lied. She didn’t need to know just yet that monsters were real - instead of big, sharp teeth and roughened red skin they were human beings, men and women with the worst of intentions. Their poor, unspoiled little girl didn’t need that fear just yet; that time would come soon enough; she needed time to be a child. “You know what I do when I see a monster in my head?”

“What?” she asked, her silent stream of tears subsiding as she looked up at her fathers with hope - hope that she might be able to close her eyes without seeing the big, bad monster in the darkness.

“I make it do something silly,” he smiled, grabbing her tiny hands and waving them around, “Like this.” As he waved her hands out and about, he made a silly voice and Spencer made some funny noises, finally bringing a smile to Diana’s face.

Spencer always did something else. “You know what I do?” he asked their perfect baby girl. “When I go to sleep, I make myself think of something that makes me happy. For example, I think of how much I love you and dada,” he said nodding his head to the side where his husband kneeled. “I think about when we first brought you home and how happy we were. That way the first thing I think of as I fall asleep is something good. So what makes you happy?” he asked. It was a bit of a deep question to ask a girl who was barely three, but she answered kind of how he expected - and also a little differently. 

“My Captain American scarf that Aunt Penelope made me makes me happy,” she said, making a contented smiling face at the thought of her aunt. “And you and dada make me happy. Like when we watch movies, like Tangled.” Already she was well beyond her years. 

After another few minutes of talking to her and making her laugh, Spencer and Luke stood up from the side of Diana’s bed and began to walk back inside. “Daddy? Dada?” she asked; in an instant, they both knew that they weren’t going to sleep well tonight. It was going to be the floor for them. “Can you stay here? What if the monster comes for me?”

“He won’t, baby, but of course we will,” Luke said, walking over to the closet and putting his hands on the door. “Look here though, no monsters. The monsters are afraid of what Daddy and I would do to them if they ever laid a hand on you.” Diana flinched, turning her head away from the door, but with Spencer next to her and Luke right near the closet door, she forced herself to look and saw that there were no monsters there. “Do you want Daddy to read to you while you fall asleep?”

Knowing exactly what book she’d want, Spencer reached over and grabbed Goodnight Moon, opening its pages while Luke pulled the blanket over their daughter’s still scared body. As he started, the only reason he kept the pages open was for her to look at the pictures while her eyes fluttered shut. He’d read it so many times he could recite it by heart. But then he got to her favorite part, so she started to say the words too. “Goodnight bears, goodnight chairs, goodnight kittens, and goodnight mittens…” they said in unison, Diana barely able to complete her sentence. She was so tired. Spencer finished up reading and finally she was asleep. He hoped that Luke wouldn’t want to go back to their own room for the night. “We could go back inside…”

“But we promised we’d sleep her tonight,” Luke said. “I don’t wanna leave her.”

“Me either,” Spencer replied, reaching over to grab his husband’s hand to say goodnight. “Goodnight, Luke.” On the other side of the bed, Luke laughed, the goodnight he uttered sounding like Spencer was still reading out of the book.

“Goodnight, babe.” Both picked up one of Diana’s little throw pillow and placed it under their heads, falling asleep on either side of their daughter’s bed. They wouldn’t do this every night, but they wanted her to know that whether monsters existed or not, it didn’t matter. No one would be getting to their baby girl as long as they were around.


	8. Thumper the Bunny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Spencer take Diana to Build-a-Bear.

After a hellish week at work, Spencer and Luke were very much looking forward to taking Diana to Build-a-Bear. Spencer hadn’t even known the store existed until he and Luke were walking through the mall after Christmas and he’d insisted that they take Diana to make her own stuffed animal soon. 

Despite the case this week, if they had to go through it another thousand times to see the look on their daughter’s face right now, they’d do it. Her smile was wide. There were stars in her eyes. And she couldn’t figure out where to look first, until all of a sudden something caught her eye. “Bunny!” All the way in the corner of the store was a bunny you could stuff. Tan in color with giant floppy ears. “I wanna make a bunny!” she said excitedly, jumping up and down as Spencer and Luke watched with smiles plastered on their faces. They might end up having more fun than she would. “His name is Thumper, like in Bambi.” They had already started watching Disney movies together and Bambi was the first one they watched. Thumper was her favorite.

“Alright, baby girl,” Luke said, lifting her up and placing her on his shoulders. “We have to go stuff him up now so he’s nice and fluffy.” Once they walked over to the machine, Luke lifted her over his head and threw her into his husband’s arms, taking in the picture of him spinning her around until she got to the floor.

“Where do we stuff him?” she asked, searching all over for a hole. “Here?”

“Yup,” Luke said. “Daddy is gonna hold him, and you can press the button too stuff him up.” As Spencer situated the bunny, Diana pressed the button - a little too soon, causing fluff to blow right into Spencer’s face. “Ha!” Luke laughed. Spencer cut his eyes at his husband as he failed to stifle the laughter, falling backward onto the floor.

“Sorry, Daddy,” Diana giggled. He blew the fluff out of his face and told her to wait until he said to start. When he gave her the okay, she pressed the button again, hopping up and down like a bunny as the bunny filled up with fluff. “Yay! Now he needs clothes. Otherwise he’ll be a naked bunny.”

While Spencer was holding the bunny, something caught his eye. “Can you go take her by the clothes? I want to check something out.”

“Come with Dad, peanut,” Luke said, grabbing her hand and walking her over toward the clothes. “Daddy is going to look at something else. He’ll be over in a minute.” For the past few months, Diana had gotten out of the habit of calling Luke Dada. She said that was a baby word, so she wanted to call him Dad and Spencer daddy. “So how do you wanna dress Thumper?”

In the nearly dead store, Diana had plenty of room to look around and a ton of time to ponder this difficult decision. What was Thumper going to wear? The bins in front of her hand skirts and pants. Diana enjoyed frilly skirts and t-shirts, so of course, Thumper needed to wear the same. “He needs a skirt,” she said happily, lifting a pink, blue and purple pastel tulle skirt out of the bin.” Luke pulled on the skirt as Diana clapped. They wanted to raise her to be the best person they could. “You sure you want him in a skirt?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Some boys like skirts too.”

“That they do peanut,” he replied proudly. “What kind of shirt should he have?”

“Can I get two shirts Dad?” she asking, pointing upward toward the top rack. She had her eye on two different shirts, reaching to grab them as Luke picked her up. He beamed with pride as she reached toward a Captain America shirt - navy blue, with the shield in the middle. 

“That’s my girl,” he said, turning around and showing Spencer the shirt as he walked back toward them. “What’s the other shirt you want, baby?” 

Spencer sighed with complete and utter happiness as she reached for a stormtrooper sweatshirt. His baby loved Star Wars. “You have no idea how happy that makes me, Diana. Do you want to pick out one more shirt and one more bottom? I need to show Dad something.” Vigorously, she shook her head as Luke put her down on the floor. “Stay right here, okay?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“What do you want to show me?” Luke asked, as the two walked over to where Spencer was before. “What are you so excited about?” As he looked as his husband’s smile and back at their daughter, he wasn’t sure which one of them was having a better time. 

“Did you know you can record a message and stuff it in the bunny so she can hear it every time she hugs it?!” he asked excitedly, shoving the little recordable heart in Luke’s direction. 

He actually had no idea. He’d only ever seen the store in passing. Unlike Spencer, he knew it existed, but he didn’t know much about it. “That’s awesome. So we could say I love you or something and when she hugs it she’ll hear us?”

“Yea. Let’s do it,” he laughed. After recording their message, they brought everything over to register. With the bunny itself, two bottoms, three tops and a recordable message, the total came to nearly 60 dollars, but she was ecstatic, so they didn’t care. While Luke paid, Spencer put the message into the bunny and zipped him back up. “Hey Diana, Dad and I just put something in there. Give Thumper a hug.”

When Luke handed her the bunny, she looked Thumper in the eyes and gave him a squeeze. “We love you,” Luke said from inside the bear. “We’re always here for you,” came Spencer’s voice shortly after. 

Diana hopped up and down. “That’s you and Daddy!” she said to Luke, hugging the bunny again. “Can I keep him in my bed?” She had a ton of stuffed animals in a net above her bed, but she was only allowed to keep two of them on her bed at a time, otherwise she’d have no room for herself. “I’m gonna keep Thumper forever.”

After going to another store so Spencer could grab a pair of jeans, they returned to their car, placing Diana in the back seat with Thumper right next to her. Their apartment wasn’t all that far away, but within five minutes, Diana had fallen asleep in the car, Thumper’s ear clutched firmly in her hand. “That was the most fun I’ve had all week,” Luke said, placing his hand on Spencer’s knee. 

Spencer looked in the rearview mirror as he pulled off the highway and back toward home. She was sound asleep - perfectly content. “Me too,” he said, entwining their fingers together. “I think we all really needed that.”


	9. First Trip to the Movies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although Diana has been to the movies once or twice, she was too young to remember. But when she sees the trailer for Moana, she begs her dads to take her as soon as the movie comes out.

“Movies! Movies! Movies!” Diana said, hopping up and down after Luke helped her out of her seatbelt. “Moana!” 

Spencer and Luke had taken Diana to a couple movies before, but she’d been too young to remember them. This was the first movie that she had asked for specifically. After seeing the trailer for it while she was watching Dora the Explorer, she’d begged to go see the “Hawaiian princess” as soon as the movie came out. Their little girl couldn’t contain her excitement; it was almost too much to bear as the proud fathers took in the picture of her jumping up and down with joy. “Calm down, baby!” Spencer called, grabbing her hand before she was able to walk into the street. “You can’t walk into the street without Dad or I, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy,” she said, holding on to her new favorite bunny. Thumper went everywhere with her now. They were pretty sure she was going to be taking him to school when she started. 

“Ready to see Moana?” Luke asked, holding Thumper while taking Diana’s other hand as he and Spencer lifted her between them. Both he and Spencer had actually expressed interest in seeing the movie themselves; they were big Disney fans, not that they’d necessarily tell anyone else that they were Disney sluts, but they were.

“Yes!” she said excitedly. “She has pretty hair. Can I be her for Halloween?” Her eyes went wide, as if that thought had just occurred to her. 

“Of course you can, Diana,” Spencer replied, making a mental note to check out Halloween costumes the second they came out. Spencer was always the one to keep schedule - do things ahead of time. Luke would wait until the last minute. When it came the year’s most popular costume, Spencer knew he’d have to be ahead of the game. “Now, do you want to share some popcorn with Dad and I?” She shook her head as they approached the counter, ordering a medium popcorn, a large soda for Spencer and Luke to split, and a small bottle of water for Diana. 

Their rare day off happened to be a Tuesday, and it was the middle of the day, so there was no one else in the theater. Her fathers allowed her to pick out a seat, only a couple rows up and in the very middle of the theater. Thumper, of course, had a spot right on Diana’s lap. “Ready Thumper?” she whispered, pulling up one of his ears so he could hear. “Ready for Moana?” They’d introduced her to some of the oldest Disney movies first - Bambi, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo, Fantasia and Pinocchio so far. Next up, after Moana of course, was Cinderella.

The theater screen finally lit up. “It’s a giant TV, Daddy!” she said, pointing at the screen. “Can we fit a big TV into our apartment?” She giggled, knowing that what she asked was impossible but asking it anyway. 

“I don’t think one would fit,” Luke laughed. The lights started to dim and the three, and Thumper, turned their heads toward the screen, as the previews started. None of them looked all that decent. Mostly trivial garbage meant for kids to stare at but not actually enjoy, with the exception of a movie called Coco, which looked beautiful and very interesting. Luke tapped Spencer on the shoulder over Diana’s head. He was a two-year-old in a 40-something body at the prospect of a Disney movie set in a Spanish-speaking country. 

Spencer mouthed to him. “You excited?” To which he received a vigorous head nod. He was going to have a fun time watching his daughter and husband watch that one when it came out the following year.

As soon as the short film before Moana ended, the bright, beachy, beautiful colors popped up on screen, and little Diana was transfixed. For the first 20 minutes or so, it was difficult for Luke and Spencer to pay attention to the movie, because Diana’s eyes shone like stars in the sky. They were darting all over the place, to each corner of the screen, making small comments here and there about Pua, HeiHei, and Baby Moana. This really was a beautiful movie. “I want a pet piglet like Moana,” Diana said quietly, despite the fact that no one else was in the theater. Before they left, Luke and Spencer had made a point of telling her that going to the movies meant quiet time, so they didn’t disturb anyone else.

“We’ll have to think about that one,” Spencer laughed, panicking at the thought of having a pig running around the apartment. It would be like having a perpetual two-year-old - which was exhausting. “Maybe one day we’ll have a dog.”

Almost two hours later, the movie was over. They’d half watched the movie and half watched Diana, and honestly neither could decide which one was more interesting. Who were they kidding, it was definitely watching Diana. Watching her discover the world around her gave them a joy they really couldn’t explain. The best feeling Spencer could equate it to was like when you were walking on air. “How did you like the movie, sweetheart?” Luke asked. 

“I loved it!” she squealed. “Moana was so pretty, and she was powerful, and she didn’t let anyone tell her what to do, and she was funny. I love her! I wanna be Moana.”

“I think you’re a great Diana,” Spencer said. Moana was great, but his baby was better. He wanted to make sure she grew up knowing that. “You’re my princess.”

“Really?” she asked, stopping in her tracks on the sidewalk. He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “I’m a princess?”

He lifted her up off the sidewalk, leaning her over so that Luke could also give her a kiss. “You’re our princess. But you can be Moana next Halloween.” He smiled at the pure joy on her face. 

“Can you get the music from the movie so I can listen to it when I go to sleep at night?” she asked after Spencer put her back in the car and made sure she was seat-belted in. Once she’d gotten her own big girl bed, they’d bought an iHome so that they could put an iPod on for her. Each of them had their own, but they also had a third, with Diana-approved music for her to fall asleep to. When she was a little older, they’d give her the iPod to keep, but she was still way too young for that. 

As Luke pulled out of the parking lot, Spencer pulled out his phone and downloaded the Moana soundtrack, which he would set to share with her iPod as soon as they got home. With the music downloaded, he plugged in his phone and turned it on in the car, and put on How Far I’ll Go, leaning his head back and closing his eyes as he listened to their daughter sing.

\---  
But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try  
Every turn I take, every trail I track  
Every path I make, every road leads back  
To the place I know, where I can not go, where I long to be…


	10. A Day at the Zoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Diana starts school, Luke and Spencer take their baby girl for a day at the zoo.

Their little girl was going to be staring pre-kindergarten in less than a month. Before she started, Spencer and Luke wanted to take her to the zoo. Somehow, they’d never been before. Work, raising a toddler. Life had flown by in the last few years, so they wanted to slow down and treasure her childhood a little bit more. 

“Ready for the zoo, baby?” Spencer asked as Diana ran into his arms, Thumper in tow. “What animals are you excited to see?”

“Otters!” she said excitedly, whipping Thumper around and knocking him into Spencer’s head. “And bears! And elephants! And all the cats!” Luke laughed as Diana listed every animal she’d seen on the Smithsonian National Zoo’s website. “I can bring Thumper, right?” There was a momentary look of panic; since they’d taken her to Build-a-Bear a couple months ago, Thumper had never left her sight.

“Of course you can, peanut,” Luke said, smoothing back the hair on her head before giving her a kiss. “Let’s go!”

—-

Nearly an hour later, they finally parked at the zoo. “Where to first?” Spencer asked, kneeling down by her side with the map. She was already starting to read, so she ran her fingers over the map looking for the animal she wanted to see. 

“Can we go see the Great Cat exhibit?” she asked. “I wanna see the lions!” Of course, that particular exhibit was directly across from the entrance. Luke and Spencer were glad they wore comfortable sneakers today; they were going to need them. 

Luke picked her up, walking in the direction of the exhibit as Spencer started telling their daughter all about the cats they were going to see. “Did you know a lions roar can be heard from almost five miles away?” he said, walking backwards so he could look Diana in the eyes. “And the male lions defend the pride’s territory. You remember what a pride is?”

“A group of lions!”

“Yes!” he said, holding up his hand for a high five. He’d been telling her about some of the basic zoo animals all week long in preparation for their trip. “And the females do the hunting, but the males tend to eat first.”

“That’s dumb,” Diana said matter-of-factly. “If the girls do the hunting then they should eat first.” She rested her arms on Luke’s head and he laughed; she did have a point. “Dad, did you know that the darker a lion’s mane is the older it is? Daddy told me that.” 

“That’s right I did,” he laughed. “What can you tell Dad and I about tigers?”

Spencer beamed with pride as their daughter told Luke all about tigers - how they used stealth to hunt because they couldn’t outrun their prey, how every one had a different pattern of stripes, much like a human’s fingerprint, and even how they lived alone, unlike lions. “Look!” she called, pointing toward the lions. “It’s a male lion!” 

Sure enough, up on a rock was a male lion, surveying the territory. “He’s pretty,” she said, messing up her hair to look like a lion’s mane. “And there’s a lady lion.” Actually, there were quite a few of them. 

After they observed the lions for a little while, they headed over to the tigers. They were having a great time until one of the tigers roared. Diana hadn’t realized how loud it was a got scared, running behind Spencer’s leg and crying. “That hurt my ears!” she sobbed. 

“It’s okay, baby,” he said, cradling her head in his chest. “You wanna go see something else now? Get away from the scary tigers?” She shook her head slowly, staring back at the tigers as she covered her ears. Thumper was sitting comfortably in between Spencer’s chest and hers. 

“How about we go to the Small Mammal House? All the animals there are really cute,” Luke said, taking their daughter from Spencer’s arms. “Maybe Daddy can tell you about some of the animals in there.”

Spencer was happy to oblige. Diana loved to learn, which made him exceedingly happy, and Luke actually enjoyed his ramblings - it was one of the reasons he’d fallen for him to begin with. “They have sand cats, or Felis margarita harrisoni, which typically don’t get any bigger than 8 pounds. And Fennec foxes. They live in the deserts of Africa. They also have naked mole rats…”

“Those are gross!” Diana laughed much to her fathers’ joy. They hated seeing her cry. “But they find their food by smell because they have such tiny eyes.”

“That’s right!” Spencer replied. “They’re right over here.” Despite how gross Diana thought they were, she was fascinated by them, so for nearly 20 minutes, she sat in Luke’s lap and watched as they scuttled across the ground before heading over to a few of the other animals in the exhibit. 

After another hour of walking around, Diana was hungry, and frankly, so were Spencer and Luke, so they sat down for lunch and watched as Diana happily down some chicken fingers. “Can we go see the seals now?” she asked, yawning a little bit as she stood up from the table. “They look like water puppies. Daddy, are Harbor seals friendly with each other?” She read on the map that those were the closest seals to them.

“They are a mainly solitary species, but they tend to be more social when it comes time for breeding season.” As of right now, all Diana knew was that breeding meant have babies and at just over four, that was about as far as they were willing to go. “Many individuals take part in biting, head butting, snorting, growling, flipper waving and other behaviors to keep others away from them.”

Over the next couple of hours, they saw Harbor seals, gray seals, sea lions, wolves, pandas, and the otters that Diana had been dying to see. Ever since she’d seen them, she’d tried to learn everything she could, so while Spencer and Luke took turns holding her up to see them, she told everyone about them. “Otters like to talk a lot. They use different ways of speaking for saying hello, warning other otters about threats, and even telling each other when it’s time for them to get cleaned up,” she said, much to the surprise of those around them. Many other families were listening to her. “They also use smell to communicate with each other.”

“You have a very smart little girl,” one of the mothers said as she and her two kids left for another exhibit. That they did - and they couldn’t have been more proud.

It had been nearly four hours since they’d first entered the zoo, and Diana was getting tired. “You ready to go home, sweetpea?” Spencer asked, as Diana tried and failed to wipe the sleep from her eyes. “It’s been a long day.”

By the time they’d made it back to the entrance, with Luke walking behind Spencer, Diana had already fallen asleep, so they placed her delicately back in the car before driving home. They had a feeling that as soon as she woke up, she’d want to learn even more about all the animals she saw today. Tonight would definitely be filled with the three of them sitting around the computer; Spencer wouldn’t have it any other way.


	11. Diana Makes a New Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer, Luke and Diana are all nervous for her first day of school, but it's all for nothing. When she comes home from her first day, she tells her dads all about her first day at school.

“She’s already nervous,” Luke said, turning around to grab his husband’s face in his hands while Diana was getting ready for her first day of school. “Watching you bounce up and down and hyperventilate about her growing up too fast is definitely not going to help. Chill.” As Spencer started to calm down a bit for the sake of their daughter, Luke pulled him into his chest, running his hands through his hair. “She’s going to be fine.”

Spencer knew she would be. She was a strong little girl, smarter than her age, and already beyond her years. But she was still his baby girl, so the fact that she was already off to school was insane to him. Kailanni, her birth mother, had asked for a video of her on her first day, so Luke was going to video it for her. With her boys growing older and needing to be taken to a variety of after-school activities, it was difficult for her to see Diana as much as she wanted to, but Spencer and Luke always made it a point to include her in things.

Normally bursting with energy, it was odd for Diana’s dads to see her walk slowly out of her room, ready for school with a star wars t-shirt featuring Rey, a pair of jeans and her little blue sneakers. Inside her Captain American backpack was Thumper, his head sticking just outside the zipper. “You ready, baby?” Spencer asked, kneeling down in front of his daughter and putting on a brave face. She really did look nervous and he didn’t want to make it worse for her. “You are going to be amazing.”

He picked her up, pressing a kiss to her cheek as Luke reassured her too. “You’re going to learn so much. You’ll have a big brain just like Daddy. And you’ll make new friends. You can do this.” Luke lifted his hand up, searching for a smile and a high-five, and he finally got it, giving a high-five to Spencer as well. 

After they headed down to the car, Diana started to relax, playing with Thumper in the back seat - until they got to school. “Do I have to go?” she asked softly, peering out the window as some of the other little ones were driven up to school. They all looked about the same - scared of something new, of leaving the comfort of their parents’ view. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I know you don’t, sweetheart,” Luke said as he unbuckled her from her seatbelt and pulled out his phone to start recording. “But you are going to meet new friends, and when you come home Daddy and I will both be there.”

“You can tell us all about your day,” he said, panicking inside. Maybe they should make her go until she was ready. Of course not, she’d never want to leave them - at least not until she was a teenager. She needed to be coaxed out of the nest. “You’re going to do great, honey.” After Luke opened the door for her and she slid out, Spencer picked her up and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Before putting her on the ground, Spencer and Luke kissed either side of her face, making her laugh as both their beards bristled against her skin. 

“Okay everyone!” Miss Harding called, a bright smile on her face. “Time to line up!”

“That’s your teacher,” Luke said. “She’s very nice. If you need help with anything and Daddy and I aren’t there, she’ll help you, okay?” He looked down at their daughter, who was still hiding behind Spencer’s leg. “Take a few minutes to look at her. She looks nice, right?”

Diana nodded her head slowly, coming out from behind Spencer’s leg and walking slowly toward the group. Before she got to her teacher, she ran back, bringing her arms around their necks. “I love you, Dad. I love you, Daddy.” With a small smile, still unconvinced but ready as she’d ever be, their baby girl got on line with the other pre-schoolers. 

As Spencer and Luke turned away, Luke noticed Spencer’s glossy eyes. “She’s so big already,” he said in disbelief. 

“I know,” he sighed, grabbing Spencer’s hand in his own. “All we can do is prepare her for the world.”

Once in the car, they prayed that Diana would have a good day. Her school day was only four hours long this year, but on the first day, four hours would probably seem like an eternity.

—-

“God, I hope she had a good day,” Luke said as they drove to pick up Diana. Spencer was supposed to be at work today (since Diana was born they’d switched their schedules so one of them was always home with Diana), but Spencer took some paid time off for Diana’s first day. 

After dropping her off, Spencer started to relax, but in the ensuing hours, Luke started panicking. They pulled up to the school, waiting outside by the steps for her class to come outside. In about 10 minutes, Diana and the rest of her classmates came bursting out of the school doors, and she ran toward them with the biggest smile on her face. The two men shared a sighed of relief. Who knew your kid’s first day of school was so anxiety producing? “You had a good day, baby?” Luke asked as he scooped her up off the ground. 

“Yea!” she cried, wrapping her hands around his neck. “I met a boy named Noah, and we played with the kitchen toys together, and I also met a girl named Kat, she wasn’t very nice to anyone, but when she was being mean to me about Thumper, a girl named Emma came over and pulled me away and we played with our stuffed animals together.”

Well, two out of three wasn’t bad. At least she already had a friend or two. “It sounds like you had a great day,” Spencer said, taking her from Luke’s arms and putting her in the car. “What did Miss Harding say about the school year?”

“She said we are going to learn our numbers and letters, how to compare things like tall and short, or big and small, and we’ll learn colors, and some simple math, and we’ll do arts and crafts for the holidays, and Miss Harding does story time!” she said excitedly, much to the happiness of both her fathers.

As they drove home, they took turns checking the back seat. Diana looked like she wanted to say something else, but she hesitated. “Dad?” she asked. “You speak Spanish to Daddy sometimes, right?”

“Yea, baby,” he replied. “Why are you asking?”

“Can you and Daddy teach me to speak Spanish?”

Spencer practically combusted in his seat he was so happy. “Of course, Diana. Why do you want to learn Spanish?” 

“Emma speaks Spanish at home with her mommy and daddy, and I want to be able to talk to her in Spanish and English. No one else knows Spanish, so it would be like a secret language,” she said, playing with Thumper’s ears. 

While Spencer had teared up this morning leaving their daughter at school, this afternoon, Luke had to blink the tears out of his eyes as he drove his family home. His little girl wanted to speak Spanish and she’d had a good day at school. Today was a great day.


	12. Kiddie Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana tells Spencer and Luke all about school and her boyfriend, Noah - a fellow 5-year-old.

While Diana’s first day at school had been fraught with fear and hesitation at the uncertain, the subsequent days went much more smoothly. As soon as her fathers had set Diana down on the ground, she’d speed to her teacher Miss Harding, and her two new friends Noah and Emma. “Hola, Emma!” she’d say happily, waving her hand as Emma stretched her arms out and gave her a hug, both girls immediately launching into conversation about what kind of book Miss Harding would read that day.

Over the ensuing weeks, Luke and Spencer had started teaching Diana some rudimentary Spanish so that she could speak to Emma in her mother tongue. As they were teaching her, both fathers had a feeling that her teacher would suggest putting her up a few grades. She already knew how to count to 100. She knew her colors. Basic addition was a breeze for her. She could even read already - books that were grades above her level. Spencer actually thought he could have her reading Harry Potter within another year of so. And now she was starting to learn Spanish. “Can you count to ten in Spanish for me?” Luke asked, happy beyond words that his daughter wanted to learn the language he’d grown up speaking. 

“Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez!”

“That’s my girl!” he said, wrapping his arms around her. 

She’d been in school for nearly two months now. Every day, she came home excited about her friends. But even she knew she could handle harder work than she was being given, asking for her Daddy to teach her things slightly above her grade level. “How was school today, baby?” Spencer asked when they picked her up from school that day.

“Muy bien,” she said, putting Thumper in his own seat complete with his own seatbelt. “Emma is helping me learn even more Spanish. She taught me some new words.”

“Really?” Luke asked as he pulled back toward home. “What words did she teach you?” His first thought was that she’d taught her some Spanish curse words. He was not looking forward to that. Joder, was going to be a particularly fun one, because it would probably be the easiest for her to learn.

“I asked her to teach me some family words, so she taught me padre,” she said looking between them both, almost rolling her “r” perfectly. With a little practice, she’d have a great accent. “She also taught me hermano, hermana, novia, novio…”

As Diana continued to ramble off other Spanish words for family members, Spencer and Luke glanced at each other. “Novia and novio are girlfriend and boyfriend, right?” Spencer asked, confused as to why their daughter would ask to be taught those words. If anything, maybe she’d want to learn the word husband because he and Luke were married, but why girlfriend and boyfriend he wasn’t sure. 

“Yea, that’s girlfriend and boyfriend,” Luke said, glancing into the backseat where Diana was still talking about her day. “Why would she care about those words?” They decided to ask. “What made you want to learn novia and novio, sweetheart?”

As if it was completely natural, Diana looked up and said the thing they least expected. “I wanted to know what Noah and I should call each other.”

Say what now. A smile crept across her fathers’ faces as it dawned on them what was actually occurring. Their daughter - their nearly five-year-old daughter - had a crush. “So Noah’s your boyfriend?” Spencer asked, trying his best not to laugh. 

“Yup,” she said. “He likes to hold my hand during free time, so I let him.” While Luke continued to drive, Diana started talking all about today’s free time and how Noah would make food at the play kitchen and bring it to her. “I like food, so I let him bring me fake food. I wish he could bring me real French fries.” French fries and pizza were her favorites. If she could eat them every night, she would.

Luke couldn’t believe they had a daughter old enough to already have her first kiddie relationship. “You be careful with him,” he said. “Don’t let him break your heart.”

“He won’t do that,” she said - her fathers chuckling at the juxtaposition of maturity and innocence. “I told him if he hurts my feelings I would kick him in the legs. You said that hurts boys, Daddy.”

“That it does, baby,” he cackled, his hand hitting the leather seat of the car with a thud as he tried to keep his composure. That was his baby girl. Already not taking shit from anyone. “Just don’t do that at school, okay? If that happens when you get older, by all means, you kick him in the legs.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she said. They’d finally returned home. Although the drive was only ten minutes, all the boyfriend talk made it seem a whole lot longer. God help them when they had to have this talk with her as a teenager. “Can Emma and mi novio come over one day? And can we go trick-or-treating next week with Noah and Emma and their parents?”

Already on to meeting the parents. Spencer laughed as he checked with Luke to make sure they were both on the same page. “Of course, sweetie.” God, their little girl was growing up fast.


	13. Tricks and Treats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana goes trick-or-treating with her friends Emma and Noah, while their parents lag behind. On the way, she learns that people aren't always as nice as she expects.

For the month prior to Halloween, Diana had been listening to the Moana soundtrack non-stop. “I don’t know how many more times I can listen to this, babe,” Luke said, knocking his head into his husband’s shoulder repeatedly. “I hear it all the time. When I drive, when I shower, when I go to sleep…”

“When we wake up, at the dinner table, on the weekends, it just…never stops,” Spencer said, waking up that morning to the soundtrack leaking into their room from their daughter’s room. Today was Halloween, and since she saw the movie last year, Diana had been intent on being Moana - and intent on driving them bananas with the soundtrack.

“It’s Halloween!” she screamed as she ran out of her room already dressed head to toe in her costume, the flower in her hair included. Miss Harding had allowed the children to come into class in costume, but now she was home and eagerly awaiting the moment she could meet up with Noah and Emma for trick-or-treating. “I’m gonna get so much candy!”

“What’s your favorite, baby?” Spencer asked, mouthing the answer - reese’s peanut butter cups - to his husband as Diana told them both all about how she was going to get a pillowcase full of peanut butter cups. “If you eat all of that you’ll throw up.”

“But I wanna!” she said, stomping her feet. She was joking and both Luke and Spencer knew it, but it was still funny to watch her get all serious about peanut butter cups.

“That’s how I know she’s my child,” Luke laughed. He was obsessed with peanut butter cups; if he could eat them day in and day out and still be healthy, he would. “Noah and Emma and their families are coming here, right? We aren’t meeting somewhere else?”

Just as Spencer answered, there was a knock at the door. “Hi,” Luke said, opening the door to reveal Emma and her parents, Heath and Caroline, who was born in Mexico and moved her with her parents at the age of 11. “I’m Luke Alvez. This is my husband, Spencer.”

“We’ve heard so much about you from Emma,” Caroline said sweetly. “Diana has been learning Spanish because of her, right? We feel so honored.” 

“Si, Mrs. Cohen!” Diana said excitedly, running up to the door the give Emma a hug. Or, more accurately, give Judy Hopps from Zootopia a hug. While Heath, Caroline, Spencer and Luke started talking about the kids and school outside on the porch - the girls running around in the grass - Noah and his family pulled up to the house.

“So nice to meet the girlfriend’s parents,” Noah’s father, Noah Sr. laughed, shaking Luke and Spencer’s hands. “Noah says a lot about Diana, all good things of course.”

“I’d hope so.” Spencer joked. “Otherwise, he is not allowed to go out with my daughter. Ready, kids?” He called toward where the girls were playing in the grass and watched as they ran over, enveloping Noah in a hug. Spencer almost keeled over when Noah gave Diana a kiss on the cheek. Turning to his husband, he whispered, “He just kissed our baby girl.”

“We have to keep an eye on that one,” he chuckled, pointing to where Noah was walking in the middle of the girls. “Make sure he goes no further.” 

The six parents walked behind Moana, Judy Hopps and Darth Vader, a tried and true costume after nearly 50 years. Within a block and a half, all three kids already had a ton of candy. There was no way Luke and Spencer were going to let her eat all of that. “Will you share your peanut butter cups with me, Diana?” Luke called toward his daughter. 

“Only because I love you, Dad. You and Daddy are the only ones who can have my peanut butter cups.” She ran back toward Spencer and Luke to tell them that she wouldn’t even let Noah have a peanut butter cup, so dads were still above the “boyfriend.” Score.

As the night wore on, the kids filled their bags up with insane amounts of candy. All of a sudden, Diana came running back toward Spencer and Luke with tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“She said I couldn’t have any candy,” Diana replied. It was only when they looked up to see Emma and Noah getting candy that they realized why she had been denied. It was because of them. “She asked who everyone’s parents were and I pointed to you two and she said people aren’t supposed to have two daddies.”

“I told her I didn’t want her stupid candy anyway,” she said, sniffling. “I’m not crying because of the candy, I’m crying because she’s mean. Why did she say those things?”

Spencer picked her up off the ground, giving the mother in the house a very subtle middle finger as Emma and Noah walked back. Their parents made comments to Luke about how people needed to move into the 21st century already while Spencer tried to explain what had just happened to their daughter. Emma and Noah had no idea why Diana was so sad, but their parents explained. “Some people think that children should only have a mommy and a daddy. They think that having two mommies or two daddies is wrong,” Spencer said.

“But why?” she asked. “You and Dad love each other.” 

Smiling at his little girl, he realized that even in her short life, they had been able to instill good ideals in her. “That’s right. I love Dad with all my heart. And in the end, that’s all that matters. But there are some people that think it’s wrong, or gross, or goes against God, so they hate people like Dad and I because of it.”

“That’s dumb. Isn’t God supposed to love everyone?” she asked confused, her furrowed little eyebrow making Spencer chuckle. Although they weren’t raising Diana with any particular religion, they were teaching her ideals from many of them, Christianity, Judaism and Islam among them. He told her that’s the case for most people and most religions, but sometimes some people distort religion to meet their needs or what they think is right.

She seemed to understand what he was saying, but not get the logic behind it - which meant that she was on the same page as most other people. “Listen, sweetie,” he said, figuring he’d use this opportunity to prepare her. “As you get older, there will probably be more people like that lady - that don’t like Dad and I because we love each other - but all you need to know is that we do, and we love you more than anyone else in the whole world. People can sit there in their wrongness and be wrong.”

Diana giggled. “That’s not even a sentence, Daddy. But okay. Are we going to go home now? My pillowcase is almost full.”

As he put her down on the floor and nodded toward Luke, Noah’s parents and Emma’s parents, they all decided to walk to the end of the block and then go home. Once they’d returned to the front of their house, Noah gave Diana another hug and kiss on the cheek and the kids said goodbye.

“Can I look at my candy and have a couple of pieces before bed?” Diana asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes as they walked inside. Considering she had off the next day, they figured it would be okay to let her have a couple of pieces. When she poured her candy out on the floor, she did what Spencer would have done, sorting them out into piles. There was no doubt in her fathers’ minds she had at least a half a years worth of candy in front of her. “I want a Reese’s cup, an Almond Joy, and a Tootsie pop.”

After she finished up her candy, she got changed out of her costume and into some pajamas - her favorite Captain American ones - before walking back out. “Can both of you read to me tonight?” Apparently, that asshole she met while trick-or-treating really bothered her; she wanted both of them close tonight, so as they turned the corner toward her room, Spencer and Luke grabbed one of her hands and lifted her into bed, sitting on either side as they read her to sleep.


	14. I'll Be In My Blanket Fort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer, Luke and Diana spend a lazy Saturday in a blanket fort watching Disney movies.

They were all ready. Diana’s dads had woken up two hours earlier than normal because they were planning to surprise their daughter this morning. At 6 AM, they woke up and grabbed every sheet the owned, draping them over the entire living room. Their ongoing endeavor to introduce Diana to every major Disney movie was going as planned, and today was going to be a Disney movie day, complete with blanket fort, coloring and food. 

Now, it was 8 o’clock, and Diana was just coming out of her bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she dragged Thumper behind her by the ear. When she looked up, the early morning hour they woke seemed totally worth it. In addition to the sheets that were draped over the living room, they’d also strung up some plain white lights to look like stars. “What’s this?” She smiled, bringing her bunny friend close to her chest.

“This is a blanket fort for you, Daddy and I,” Luke replied, kneeling down to kiss Diana on the forehead. “We are going to watch more Disney movies today.”

Spencer brought out her favorite coloring book and a box of crayons and placed them on the floor in front of the TV. “And we’ll color and eat in here too.”

“Can we have mac and cheese today?” she asked. Whenever there was a “special occasion,” she knew she could ask for unhealthy food. Of course, Luke had already read her mind and bought mac and cheese just for the occasion.

Luke nodded as he sat down cross-legged in front of the TV and looked at their collection of movies. After watching the major ones up through the 1960s, including Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, The Sword and The Stone, and The Jungle Book, it was time to move into the 1970s, which only had a couple major ones - one of them being The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. “Pooh Bear!” she screamed, coming to sit in Luke’s lap. “And Thumper looks like Rabbit.”

As Spencer dimmed the lights, Luke started the movie. “I like Pooh Bear,” Diana said about halfway through. “Everyone thinks he’s dumb and all he cares about his honey, but he doesn’t. He’s not really smart, but he cares about the things that matter.”

“That’s right, baby,” Luke said proudly as he brushed her hair. He’d had to study how to take care of her hair, but both he and Spencer had mastered the art recently. “What should we watch next?” Spencer laid out the next few choices in front of her, and not surprisingly, she picked out The Little Mermaid. 

When the movie started, Diana got up and started dancing around the fort, singing at the top of her longs. Although this was the first time she’d seen the movie, she had heard the music before, so she already knew all the words. “Why does she want to be human?” she asked. “If I was her, I would want to stay a mermaid.”

Luke and Spencer happened to agree. That famous line came up - you know, the one about Ariel being 16 and not being a child anymore? - and both fathers laughed under their breaths. That’s how they knew they were old. “She is most definitely a child,” Spencer chuckled, leaning his arms back to sit up, his left hand gently placed over Luke’s. 

After The Little Mermaid came to a close, Spencer asked if they wanted lunch, crawling out of the blanket fort to start making some mac and cheese. “Can we eat in here while we watch Beauty and the Beast next?” Diana asked excitedly, jumping up and down at the thought. 

“Absolutely!” Spencer replied, peeking his head underneath the blankets. “And I have a surprise for you and Dad.”

“Really?” Luke asked, a surprised smile crawling across his face as Spencer nodded.

Within a few minutes, Spencer returned to the fort with three bowls of mac and cheese and three peanut butter cups as a surprise. “Oh, you do love me,” Luke said, opening the peanut butter cup and stuffing it in his face before going for his mac and cheese. “I love you.” Spencer practically collapsed from laughter as Luke smiled with chocolate and peanut butter still stuck in his teeth. 

“So, what’s Beauty and the Beast about?” Diana asked. “I’ve heard you talk about it before, but I don’t know what it’s about. I just know Belle is Daddy’s favorite princess and Dad’s is Jasmine.”

“I do love Belle,” he said, winking at Luke. Although happily married to each other, both he and Luke had relationships with women in the past. “Beauty and the Beast is about a prince who is transformed into a Beast when he turns away a lonely traveler. He turned her away because he thought she was ugly. Then one day, a girl from nearby wanders into the Beast’s castle to find her father who’s disappeared. The Beast imprisons her in the castle, and before the last petal falls on his enchanted rose, he has to get the girl to fall in love with him, otherwise he’ll be a monster forever.”

Diana’s eyes widened at the story. Obviously, more interested in this movie than any one they’d previously watched. Her eyes affixed themselves to the screen and after the first song, she asked if Luke or Spencer would download the soundtrack for her. “He’s giving her a library?!” Diana asked, walking up to the screen and touching all the “books.” “That would make me fall in love with the Beast. A big library with all of the books and no one to bother me while I read.”

This was yet another moment that convinced Spencer that despite not being biologically connected to Diana, she was without a doubt his little girl. “That’s my baby,” he said, lifting his hand up for a high five. “Speaking of books, do you want to start reading Harry Potter together soon?” He’d been talking about it for a couple of months and she was finally ready to start reading it. She was going to attempt to read the words and he and Luke would help her along the way. After Beauty and the Beast was over, Luke fell asleep on the floor, and Diana looked like she could use a nap, so Spencer grabbed a blanket and put it over all three of them as the took a random Saturday nap, woken up about an hour and a half later by an excited Diana who was ready for the next movie.

“Aladdin now! I have to see your favorite princess,” she said, pushing on Luke to wake him up. He reached up, grabbing Diana and bringing her into his chest as he woke up with the intensity of a sleeping bear - as in, not intense at all. “This is the one with the genie, right?”

Spencer nodded his head. They were in the golden age of Disney movies. He loved all of these movies, even though Belle was by far his favorite princess. “This movie was inspired by the folktale Aladdin and the Magic Lamp from One Thousand and One Nights.”

“Is that a book?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. With the nod of Spencer’s head, she continued. “I’m gonna read that one day too.” Yet again, after the first song, she begged to have the soundtrack put into her music so she could listen to it at night. They would do anything to give some variety to the Disney music they listened to. They’d loved Moana, but they hadn’t heard much else in the past few months and they were starting to go batty. “I think the Genie is one of my favorite characters so far,” she said, giggling like crazy during the Genie’s crazy monologue. “He’s funny.”

“That he is, honey,” Luke replied. While the movie continued, Diana pulled up her coloring book, happily coloring away while she sang some of the music. After the movie, they still had a couple hours until dinner, so they decided to take a break, eat dinner and then watch one more movie before bed. “Lion King will be the last one for today,” Luke said, excited to be leaving off on his favorite Disney movie ever. “I love this one.”

After dinner, Diana went back to sitting in Luke’s lap; they’d been switching on and off with each movie. “I think we’re going to have to watch this one again,” Spencer whispered, poking Luke and pointing towards his chest. It was still a bit on the early side, but Diana had passed out on Spencer’s chest, Thumper still clutched in her arms while Can You Feel The Love Tonight played in the background. 

“When did she pass out?” Luke asked. Neither had a clue. But it didn’t matter. Today had been an amazing day, so they’d be glad to do it again. The more Disney the better. Plus, they still had quite a few movies to go through before revealing their big surprise to their little girl.


	15. A Day of Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer and Luke meet with Diana's teacher, Miss Harding, to discuss the future of Diana's education. After the meeting, Diana weighs in, and then Luke and Spencer let her in on a surprise they've had planned.

“How do I look?” Luke asked, standing in front of the mirror in their bedroom, in the nicest business casual outfit he could muster. Today was Diana’s last day of pre-k and Miss Harding had asked if he and Spencer could come in to discuss the future of Diana’s schooling. As they had both suspected, their daughter was testing well above her grade level; if she stayed on the expected path, she would be ridiculously bored. 

“Great,” Spencer said, turning Luke around and fixing his collar before stepping into his embrace and pressing a kiss to his lips. “How do I look?”

“If we didn’t have to go to this meeting right now, I would be ripping the clothes off, let’s put it that way,” he smiled. For the third time, he turned around to look in the mirror before leaving. 

They were so nervous about what to do for her. As Spencer had done himself, she could skip grades, but they didn’t want her to skip so many that she felt she was in an awkward place socially. Striking the balance between challenging her in academics and making sure she maintained friendships with people closer to her age was difficult, and it was going to get tougher as she got older. “Miss Harding has already told Diana about the meeting,” Spencer said, grabbing Luke’s hand and pulling him out of the house. “I guess once we find out what she thinks, we should ask Diana what she wants.”

Granted their daughter was only five and a half years old, but she was older than her years and was aware enough of her situation to give some insight as to how she would want to handle things. The final decision lay with them, but they definitely wanted Diana’s input. “We have to go,” Spencer laughed, dragging Luke behind him like a kid that didn’t want to go to bed. “Or we’re going to be late.”

Nearly 15 minutes later, they pulled up to the school. Almost all of the other students had been picked up for the day, with the exception of Emma, who was still waiting on her mother. While the two girls played, Miss Harding invited Luke and Spencer inside, allowing them to pull up two child-sized chairs to sit on. “How are you guys today?” she asked, smiling towards the girls as they were playing in the corner. 

“Pretty good,” Spencer replied, fastening one button on his suit jacket. “Nervous and excited to see what you think about where Diana should go from here.”

As Miss Harding rummaged through her desk for some papers, Diana walked over, giving both Luke and Spencer a kiss on the cheek before returning to play with Emma. “Well, I’m sure you already know that you have an exceptional child,” she started, passing both men a number of papers, assignments and reports on Diana’s progress through the year. “I noticed within a couple of weeks that our lessons were boring her. Although she wasn’t disruptive, she couldn’t pay attention, and when I’d go over to see what was wrong, she’d have finished her assignment in minutes, so throughout the year, I slipped in some worksheets and assignments to see how high she actually tested.”

“And what did you find?” Luke asked. He assumed at least a grade or two. Whenever she was home, if she wasn’t going about her daily routine or spending time with he and Spencer, she had her head in books and learning applications.

“Right now,” she said disbelievingly, stunned by what she was about to say, “She tests at a third-grade level. Easily. And with her appetite for knowledge and her ability to pick up on things so quickly, I would imagine that within the year she’ll test another couple of grades higher.”

So she was already testing on an eight-year-old level and by six and a half, could be testing on a 10-to-11 year old level. “Wow,” Spencer said as he took a deep breath. “That is very high. We have discussed this at home, but what would you suggest?”

Miss Harding shuffled in her seat. She got asked this question a lot, and the answer was always the same - she couldn’t make the decision, but she could offer some insight. “I would definitely suggest putting her ahead somewhat, but how far is up to you. If you are committed to keeping her in social situations with children her age, then I would be confident in putting her in third grade next year, but to put her so far ahead without consistent contact with her peers wouldn’t be beneficial.”

During the past year, Diana had become very close with Emma, calling her her bestie, and another girl named Penny, who she originally talked to because she had the same name as her Aunt Garcia. Noah also came around often, although, according to Diana, they broke up. “It was a mutual decision,” she’d said matter-of-factly as her fathers stared on in awe. “Between her friends here and her cousins outside of school, I think we would feel comfortable putting her ahead. Is there a possibility of putting her in third grade and feeling out the situation?” Spencer asked. “If she finds that it’s too much socially or academically, she can move backward?”

The teacher said it was definitely a possibility, but that kind of arrangement would have to be discussed with the principal. Luke had another thought. “In the event that we do put her that far ahead, we would need to discuss her unique situation with her teacher.” Since the school was fairly large, there were multiple classrooms for each grade, meaning that some teachers stood out as exemplary while others did only what was absolutely necessary, and sometimes not even that. “Without going into detail, because we don’t want to put you in a bad position, is there a third-grade teacher in particular that we could ask for specifically? Someone who would be willing to go above and beyond for her?”

Again, Miss Harding shifted in her seat. She’d been a teacher at the school for nearly 5 years now, and it didn’t take long for her to find out which teachers began in the profession because they loved doing it and which did it just because they didn’t know what else to pursue in college. Even when she was studying in college, education as a major became a default for many who didn’t know what they wanted to do. Anyone could be a teacher, but not anyone could be a good teacher. “I would definitely have to say Mrs. Augusto,” she said. “She is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Somehow she’s able to assist all of her students equally, no one sits on the back-burner.”

Both men heaved a sigh of relief. They knew what they would do, but they were going to go home and discuss it with Diana first. “Well, thank you so much, Miss Harding,” Spencer said, standing up from his mini chair and shaking her hand. 

Just as Emma’s mom walked into the room, Luke extended his hand to the teacher as well, thanking her profusely for working with Diana in a way that she didn’t have to. “Diana,” he said, turning around to the girls in the corner of the room. “We’re all done. Ready to go home?”

“Yea,” she replied, wrapping her arms around Emma and giving her a tight hug. From the opposite end of the room, Luke, Spencer, and Emma’s mother all heard the two close friends. “Besties forever, right?”

“Forever and ever.”

When Diana ran across the room and into Spencer’s arms, she asked if Emma could come over during the summer. She knew she probably wouldn’t be in the same class with her next year, as Emma wouldn’t be skipping grades, but she wanted to be best friends forever. “Don’t worry, baby. Dad and I will make sure that you and Emma are friends forever. Of course, she can come over.”

She clapped excitedly, resting her head against Spencer’s chest before he put her in the car and drove home. For the first half of the school year, her half day of school had been in the morning, but the last half of the year had been in the afternoon, so after a nap and dinner, the concerned fathers sat her down at the table to talk to her about school next year. “Okay, Diana,” Spencer started, “you know why Dad and I were talking to Miss Harding this afternoon?”

“It was about whether I would skip grades next year because I was so bored this year,” she said, kicking her legs around under the table. 

“Exactly,” Luke said, sitting right next to his husband. “Well normally, after pre-k is kindergarten, first grade, second grade and so on. Miss Harding said that you could do very well if we put you in third grade next year, but that would mean that you, at 5.5 years old, would be in classes with 7 and 8 year olds.”

“Is that okay with you?” she asked. “What kind of things would I be learning in third grade?”

Spencer had already looked up lesson plans up through fourth grade in the event that Miss Harding suggested she move forward, so he was already fully prepared for this question. “You’d be learning all about adjectives and verbs, you know what those are, right?”

“Adjectives are words that describe something and verbs are action words!” she said proudly, putting up her hand to get a high five from a smiling Spencer. 

“That’s right. And you’d be learning about writing stories and what fables are. In math, you’d be learning about odd and even numbers, multiplication, shapes and fractions. And let’s see, in science, you would be learning about things like the solar system.”

“Oooo,” she said. On quite a few occasions, Spencer and Luke would take her outside at night and point out the stars, so she knew that Mercury could be seen almost all year round at either dawn or dusk. “So can I go to third grade?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Luke said. “If you are comfortable going into third grade, with bigger kids, then Daddy and I think you’d do very well in third grade, but sometimes it’s tough for a younger kid to be in a class with bigger kids.”

“Why?” she asked. “Is it because they’re mean?”

“Sometimes they can be,” Spencer said, knowing firsthand just how cruel they could be. The difference between him and Diana however, was that Spencer only really had one semi-stable parent growing up, while Diana had both he and Luke at their best. “But you would also be able to stay friends with Emma and Noah and Penny, so even if you did go into third grade, you would still have friend your own age.”

Diana took a deep breath, pondering her future at the age of 5.5. “I think that as long as I can stay friends with my friends from pre-k then it doesn’t matter if some of the third graders make fun of me because I won’t be alone. I’ll have Emma, Penny, Noah and you,” she said, pointing her hands toward Luke and Spencer. “And then I could learn harder stuff, because I was so bored this year…I wanna go to third grade.”

“Okay, peanut,” Luke said, stretching his arms out to envelop her in a hug. “Then next year you start third grade.” Both fathers were so exceptionally proud of the little girl they were raising. At this rate, she’d be smarter than Spencer. “We’ll enroll you soon. Right after we talk to the principal.”

“Cool…can I have dessert now?” she said. She’d just helped them make a decision about her education and then easily transitioned into asking about food.

Luke snorted, getting up and opening the freezer. “Cookie dough ice cream?” After vigorously nodding her head, Luke got Diana, he and Spencer some ice cream, and also grabbed her iPad from her room. They’d installed a ton of educational apps on it so she could learn whenever she felt like it, so as she scooped ice cream into her mouth, she clicked around on one of her math applications. 

While she ate, Luke and Spencer stood behind her, contemplating whether or not they should let her in on the surprise they had planned for her. They decided on yes. “Hey baby,” Spencer said, sitting down next to her with an enormous smile on his face. “Dad and I have a surprise for you.”

Excitedly, she spun around in her seat and begged them to tell her. “What is it? What is it?!”

Spencer nodded toward Luke for him to take it from here. “Well, you did such a great job in school this year, and we’ve been watching so many Disney movies that we figured it was time you saw it in person…”

Diana’s face lit up, going from curious to knowing. “Are we going to Disney World?” she asked, watching as Luke and Spencer’s smiles spread even wider. “ARE WE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD?!”

“Yup,” they said simultaneously.

“Yesssssssssss!!!!!!!” She screamed as she got up from her seat, grabbed Thumper (ensuring he could come with them of course) and proceeded to run around the house and bounce up and down on the furniture. 

All of the money it was going to cost and aggravation they had gone through to get simultaneous time off from the Bureau was completely and totally worth it as they watched their “little big girl” run around the house. “If she has this much energy when we only told her,” Luke started.

“Then when we get there, we aren’t going to get any sleep at all,” Spencer finished. “Although it’s actually impossible to ‘catch up’ on sleep, we’re going to have to try.”


	16. A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into the first day of Diana's Disney World vacation.

Their trip had been scheduled for the second-to-last week of her summer vacation before the start of what turned out to be third grade. The week prior, Diana had spoken of nothing but Disney World. Seeing the princesses. Seeing if Moana would be there, even though she was a new character. Taking a picture in front of the castle. She’d literally talked of nothing else for a week, and now they were off the plane and in the hotel. The Art of Animation hotel. In the Lion King room. Which made Luke supremely happy. 

“Can we go to the Magic Kingdom now?” she asked excitedly, jumping up and down on her bed and snuggling under the warm covers. They’d barely walked in the room.

Both of them desperately needed to use the bathroom, but she was already raring to go. Typical almost-6-year-old behavior. “Can Daddy and I pee first?” Luke laughed, causing the young girl to blush and plop down onto the bed. 

“Yes, Dad.” She smiled.

“Then we can go.”

Within the hour, the three were walking into the gates of the Magic Kingdom, unable to take their eyes off Diana’s joy. Even a picture couldn’t adequately capture this moment. Only first-hand knowledge would do - and the look is one they’d remember for the rest of their lives. Luke hadn’t been in here in years and much had changed since, and Spencer had never been before, but they couldn’t bother taking in everything around them when Diana looked so happy she wanted to cry. That look was completely worth everything that they’d ever done or would do. “You wanna take a picture in front of the Mickey flowers?” Luke asked, lifting her up off the ground and placing her in front of the topiaries. 

“Do you want me to take a picture of all three of you?” one of the female employees asked, an enormous smile on her face. It was a genuine smile, not one of those smiles that employees put on because they were supposed to. Gratefully, Spencer handed the woman his camera, as he and Luke hopped up onto the ledge to sit on either side of Diana. “Say Mickey Mouse!” 

“MICKEY MOUSE!” Diana screamed, causing bother men to laugh out loud. After taking a few more pictures together, they grabbed the camera, thanked the woman profusely and started walking down Main Street, where Diana got distracted by every doll, every piece of clothing and every delicious cupcake imaginable. “Can I get a cupcake?” she asked, walking into the Confectionary. The cupcakes inside were as big as her head, covered in sweet buttercream icing, sprinkles, and even whole cookies. After much deliberation, they’d decided on sharing a cookies and cream cupcake, complete with Oreo cookie topper between the three of them. 

“Where are we going first?” she said, bit of cupcake still speckling her cheeks. 

Before they left, the had planned a couple of fastpasses for some of the most popular rides, so Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain, and Ariel’s ride all had specified times. Otherwise, they’d be waiting in line. “We have a fastpass for Ariel at 10 AM, so why don’t we go wait on line for Buzz Lightyear?”

“To infinity and beyond!” she cried, running ahead of them toward Tomorrowland. Good thing they’d introduced her to the Pixar and Disney/Pixar movies too. Thankfully, it wasn’t too crowded, so by the time they made it over to the ride, it only had a 20-minute wait. “So what do I have to do on this ride?” 

Spencer had done his research. “On this ride, you have to help Buzz save the galaxy from the evil Emperor Zurg. You’ll sit in either mine or Dad’s lap, and you’ll shoot a laser at those Z-targets,” he said, pointing to an example of one on the wall. It wasn’t even 10 minutes later that they made it onto the ride. 

“Oh, the colors are pretty,” she said as the ride slithered its way into the first room, painted head to toe with targets that would help Buzz save the galaxy. She decided to sit on Spencer’s lap for the first ride, so he showed her how to press the buttons and then pulled out his phone, holding it the side to document how happy she was. “Daddy, I got a hundred-thousand points! Look!” she screamed, aiming her laser gun upward at the ceiling again. “The hand target is worth 100,000 points!” Before they even left the first room, she had a little over 300,000 points and Luke had about 50,000.

“How is she doing this?” he screamed, getting way into this and acting like a sniper, getting behind his laser gun and closing one eye. 

Spencer laughed at Luke’s intensity, watching as Diana somehow picked out the highest point target in each room and racked up the points. “You know you’re not actually supposed to close your eyes when you shoot, right?”

“Shut up, Spencer!” he cried.

After earning an impressive, especially for a girl who was barely six years old, 734,500 points, Luke picked out a badge with her rank on it and placed it around her neck. “You can help me save the galaxy anytime, baby.”

“Yay! Ariel now, right?” 

“Yup!” Spencer said, picking her up and setting her down to sit on his shoulders. This time, Diana decided to sit on Luke’s lap in the clam shell that would take them through the story of The Little Mermaid. 

As the ride started, Diana’s face lit up and she leaned forward in the cart, singing along to the music and reaching out to touch the scenery, even though it was far from her grasp. “Under the sea! Under the sea!” she sang, bouncing up and down in Luke’s lap. 

“That was amazing!” she said. “We can’t go again, right?”

“Not unless we want to wait on a really long line,” he said, wishing there was a way to get her on again. “But there’s still so much to see.” The carousel was nearby and as soon as she sat on the horse, her sadness at not being able to go on the Ariel ride again washed away. 

Minutes later, after Diana descended the carousel every inch the perfect princess, they took her to Philharmagic, which was a 3D sing-a-long with the classic Disney movies. That one didn’t have a big waiting time, so they went on three times in a row before Diana said she would be okay going on something else. “I could go on that all day.”

“How about we do our Peter Pan ride now?” Luke said. For some reason, despite how old the movie was, this ride always had a long line. She liked the ride, but if they were ever able to take her back, they probably wouldn’t waste a fastpass on it.

Once they left the It’s a Small World ride, which stalled right toward the end, causing Luke, Spencer, and basically every adult in the room to nearly lose their minds from the repetitive music, they made their way through Liberty Square, where they stopped for food, water and in Diana’s case, a quick 15-minute power nap. “Do we have the roller coaster now?” she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake up. “Am I big enough for it?”

“Yes,” Spencer replied, noticing the caution in her voice, “But if you’re scared and don’t want to go on it, that’s okay. Dad and I won’t be mad.”

“Can I sit in between the two of you?”

“No problem,” Luke replied.

“Then I think I’ll be okay, especially with Thumper in my lap.” He hadn’t left her side all day. When she looked back on these pictures, she’d be surprised at the amount of pictures that contained she, her fathers and her trusty bunny friend. 

On the fastpass line, which was still a ridiculous 30-minute long wait, Diana was shaking, grabbing on to one of their hands tightly enough to leave marks. “We don’t have to do this, Diana,” Spencer said again. He didn’t want to make her do anything she didn’t want to do, but she insisted she wanted to go on. 

As soon as they were in their seat and Thumper was belted in with her, the train car shot over the hill and Diana started screaming. Both Luke and Spencer immediately panicked, thinking that their daughter was too hysterical to enjoy anything, but when they looked down, she had her hands in the air, smiling as wide as was humanly possible. “This is fun!” 

Thank god she ended up enjoying it, because something malfunctioned with the ride, causing anyone on that particular train to get two rides for the price of one. “That was amazing! I’m so glad I went on!” she said, hugging Thumper close to her chest as they left the ride.

“Good job facing your fears baby,” Spencer said, giving his baby girl a high five. When her hand hit his, he was astonished by how big her hand was. It seemed like only yesterday she’d wrapped her tiny hand around his finger. But right now, there was no time to get nostalgic. They had places to be and fun to have.

They’d been planning this trip for a year. Before they even booked plane tickets to Florida, they had reserved a dinner at the park’s newest restaurant, the Be Our Guest restaurant. The music played while you ate, the Beast came out and roared during dinner, and Belle even roamed the dining room. It was nearly impossible to get a reservation if you didn’t book months upon months in advance, and they new she would love it. “We have dinner reservations now, peanut,” Spencer said, taking Thumper and holding him while he grabbed one of her hands. 

Luke grabbed the other, swinging Diana between them as they walked toward Fantasyland where the restaurant was located. “I think you’re gonna like it,” he smirked. She kept asking, but they refused to tell her where they were going to eat until they walked in. As soon as she saw the enchanted roses on the centers of each table, she realized where she was. “Do I get to meet Belle?” she asked happily, her lip quivering at the possibility of meeting one of her favorite princesses. After watching the major Disney movies, she’d decided that her favorite character was Moana, but Moana wasn’t a princess, she was a voyager, so her favorite princesses were, in order, Belle, Jasmine, Rapunzel, Tiana and Ariel. Belle’s love of books immediately made Diana love her the most.

“Yes, you do, Diana,” Luke said, as she climbed into the seat at their table. “And look.” He pointed behind her, smacking Spencer in the arm. She was his favorite princess too.

“Hello, young princess,” Belle said, much to Diana’s overwhelming joy. “Thank you so much for accepting our invitation to dinner tonight.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” she said, slowly standing up from her chair. For the first time in her young life, she was starstruck. Luke and Spencer had told her before that not everyone liked to be hugged so she had to check. “Can I have a hug?”

“Of course you can, sweetheart,” Belle replied, crouching down near the table and giving Diana a hug as Luke snapped picture upon picture. The look she’d had this morning when they’d walked in was one of awe, but tonight, Diana looked as though she’d never seen anything as amazing as this real-life princess. “Maybe one day you can come to my library?”

Now that made her entire day. “Yesssssss, I love the library,” she said. “I would have fallen for the Beast too.” 

After taking a picture, she said goodbye again, giving Diana one more hug before leaving for the next table. She didn’t sit down though. Instead, she ran to the opposite side of the table, enveloping her arms around Luke’s neck and then Spencer’s. “Thank you,” she said to them both, small tears forming in her eyes. “This is amazing. I love you.”


	17. My Furry Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Spencer take Diana to the pound to pick out a dog.

“We’re going to get a doggie today, right?” Diana asked, seemingly having forgotten from when they’d told her the night before. Maybe it wasn’t so much forgotten as ensuring that one of her dreams was actually coming true.

After three months in third grade, Diana was excelling, and she’d been asking for a dog for about two years. Luke and Spencer had wanted a dog for years too, but by the time they’d decided on getting one, they’d also decided on having Diana, and she’d taken all their time, so they didn’t feel it was fair to bring a dog into the house. Now that she was getting a little older and could even help with feeding a dog, they felt comfortable getting one. “Yes, peanut,” Luke said. “As soon as you’re done with your cereal, we can go.”

“Slow down!” Spencer laughed, watching as Diana shoveled in another three bites of cereal and gulping down the remaining chocolate-flavored milk. “Don’t choke on your food, otherwise you won’t be able to pick out a dog!”

“Uh-oh,” she said, the milk spilling out of the sides of her mouth and onto her shirt. “I have to get changed first.” Diana got cleaned up and picked up her mini-messenger bag that Spencer had bought for her, stuffing Thumper inside as they piled into the car and headed toward the pound. 

For months, the three of them had been discussing what kind of dog they wanted and whether they wanted a puppy or a dog. Luke and Spencer figured that having a younger dog would be best. That way, it would most likely be house-trained and yet it would still be young enough to grow up alongside their daughter. “What kind of dog do you want?” Luke asked, as Diana kicked excitedly in the back seat. “Big or small?”

“Big!” she cried. “The small ones yip all the time.” Truth. They were really hoping she wouldn’t want a tiny one that barked all the time. “Is this it?”

They had just pulled into the lot at the pound. “Yup,” Spencer said. “Remember, the room is probably going to be very loud because all the dogs are barking to get your attention.”

“Okay,” she said, grabbing his hand and walking into the pound. “Ow, wow, it is loud.” Handing Thumper over to Luke, Diana brought her hands up to her ears to block out some of the noise.

When they walked into the first wing where the dogs were located, Diana seemed a little overwhelmed, keeping her hands over her ears while she walked up and down the aisle and searched for a dog to love. “These ones all seem mean,” she said. “Is there another place?”

Sure enough, the pound had three separate areas for dogs, so he took the three eager dog owners to another wing; this one was much quieter. “I like these dogs,” Diana said happily, letting her hands fall back to her sides and asking Luke for Thumper back. While she paced up and down the aisle, both fathers stood back, although they’d both caught the eye of a dog they’d like. Diana saw the same one and stood in front of the cage, laying her hand on the wire without putting it in. “She licked me!” she laughed. “Her name is Roxy!”

Coming to kneel at her side, Spencer and Luke pressed their hands to the wire, seeing if Roxy liked them too. “She’s a cutie,” Luke said. 

The employee had left the room for a minute, but returned to see the three sitting in front of Roxy’s cage. “Would you like to take her out and see if you like her?”

“You wanna take her out?” Spencer asked. “We can take her for a walk out back and see if she’s a good fit for us.”

Diana shook her head up and down so hard, her fathers thought it might fall off. “She’s very well behaved,” the man said, taking her out of the cage and putting on a collar and leash. “It’s just that she’s about 3 years old. People normally come in looking for younger dogs, puppies, or even seniors. The ones in the middle range tend to get overlooked.” Luke knelt down, taking Roxy by the head and massaging behind her ears. She licked his face, causing Diana to roar with laughter.

“She kissed your lips! You got gross dog kisses.” Apprehensively, she walked up to Roxy and held her hand out in front of her nose, allowing Roxy to come to her and lick her hand again. “She likes me!” 

“I think she does,” the man said, smiling at the thought of this dog he loved finally getting a home. “So you know her name is Roxy. She’s between 2.5 and 3.5 and she’s a German Shepard. She was found outside in town. She was malnourished, but we don’t think she was ever abused. Great with kids, as you can see. I think she’d be a great fit for your family.”

As the four walked outside, Spencer took the leash, walking her up and down the expanse of grass. She didn’t tug on her leash, so as Diana got older, she’d be able to control her. “Does she do well with other dogs?” he asked, much to Luke’s surprise. 

“Are we getting two dogs?” he mouthed as his husband walked his way to whisper in his ear. 

“Not now, but maybe one day.” Luke rolled his eyes as Spencer walked away. Although he didn’t want to admit that he might want more than one dog one day. “Hey, baby. Why don’t you throw a toy for Roxy?”

While Luke and Spencer discussed how to do about adopting Roxy, Diana threw a ball for her over and over again. Roxy dropped it every time she came up to Diana and even when their daughter reached out to take it from her, Roxy just dropped it and panted. “Can we have her?” Diana asked, tugging on Luke’s pant leg and looking longingly over at the dog. 

“You like her a lot?” he asked, watching as she nodded. “Then I think we can fill out some papers for her.” Luke twitched his daughter’s nose and went inside with the employee while Spencer stayed outside with Diana and Roxy. 

Spencer took out his phone, snapping a picture as Diana walked up to Roxy and placed her arms around her neck, giving her a hug. “You’ll be my sister now. My furry sister.” 

After Luke finished up with the paperwork, he returned to his husband and daughter. “We’re gonna pick her up tomorrow, okay?” he said. “Some paperwork needs to go through before we can take her home, so we’ll be back in the morning.”

“We can’t take her home now?” Diana asked, the tears forming in her eyes as the employee from the pound started to take her back inside. 

“Not yet, but I promise we’ll be back tomorrow,” Spencer said, picking his daughter up and giving her a hug before taking her back to the car. 

The rest of the day went by in slow-motion for Diana, until she went to bed. The next morning she woke up at just after 5AM, running into her fathers’ room and begging to go pick up her furry sister. “The pound isn’t open yet, it opens at 8.” 

Instead of going back to her room, she stayed in their bed, wrapped up their blanket and sleeping between them until 7:30. “Can we get ready to go now? Please?” she asked.

Both Spencer and Luke took quick showers, getting ready in under 30 minutes as Diana rushed them to hurry up or someone else was going to take her sister away. “We called dibs!” Luke said. “I promise she’s not going anywhere.”

The minute the doors opened, Diana ran inside and demanded her dog. “Give me Roxy!” she cried. When Roxy rounded the corner, her eyes lit up and she ran to Diana, licking her face incessantly as her new human sister laughed. “Ready to go home, Roxy?”

Another lick to the face seemed like confirmation that Roxy was indeed ready to go home. As soon as Diana got into the car and put her seatbelt on, Roxy came to sit at her side. Traffic was horrific on the way home, but once they arrived, Spencer opened the car door - to a picture perfect scene. Diana had her head resting on Roxy’s chest, sleeping away with Thumper in her arms, and Roxy had her head resting on Diana’s - determined to keep her safe no matter what.


	18. Grandma Diana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana gets to spend a day with her fathers, as well as her grandmother Diana.

She remembered the day she found out that her son had named his only child after her; she’d broken down crying. Never in a million years had she imagined that she’d have a namesake. There were good days and bad, but when Diana Reid had a good day, her priority was her boy and that precious granddaughter of hers. 

Today was a good day. 

“Do we get to see grandma Diana today?” Diana asked after breakfast that morning. The week before, Spencer and Luke had told her that they had to play it by ear, because sometimes her medication worked well and other times it didn’t, so they couldn’t say for sure. 

“Yes,” Spencer said happily, picking Diana up off the floor and spinning her around the kitchen. Spinning her around became much more difficult as she got older; she wasn’t a little peanut anymore. “Grandma is feeling great today. I just got off the phone with her and she said she can’t wait to see you.”

Diana skipped back into her room, slipping into comfortable clothing and packing anything she might need into her backpack, including Thumper, and quite a few books. Right now, the three of them were in the middle of reading the second Harry Potter book and had asked if grandma could read the next couple of chapters to her. Grandma had been ecstatic at the possibility. “Ready to go, baby?” Luke asked about a half hour later. “Grandma can’t wait any longer!”

“Me either!”

“Grandma!” she screamed, running into the facility. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, sweet girl,” she said, kissing her on the forehead before leaning over to giver her son and son-in-law an always-needed motherly hug.

Spencer was ecstatic that she was doing well today. Unfortunately, the good days came fewer and farther between than they used to, but when they happened, everything was right in his world. “Hey mom,” he said, sitting down in the chair across from her as Luke sat next to him. “Your namesake has been doing amazingly well in third grade.”

“Of course she has,” Diana said matter-of-factly. “She’s your daughter after all. Tell me how school’s been going, sweet-pea.”

Luke pulled Spencer into his shoulder taking in the beautiful music of their daughter regaling her grandmother with her adventures in third grade. “And I’m learning all about the solar system and how Mars has the biggest volcano ever discovered in the solar system! They didn’t teach me that in school, but I think Mars is cool, so I looked up stuff about it when I got home from school.” She was rambling, moving her hands around, much like Spencer did when he spoke of something he liked. Luke’s heart warmed at the comparison. “The volcano’s name is Olympus Mons. It’s 374 miles across, which is almost the size of the state of Arizona, and it’s 16 miles high, which is triple the size of Mount Everest.”

“That’s amazing!” Diana said. She’d never even heard her son say that. 

After another 20 minutes or so of Diana telling her grandmother all about what she was learning at school, she picked up her bag and pulled out Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. “Dad, Daddy and I are on chapter 8. We want you to read to us today.”

“I would happy to,” Diana said softly, flipping through the pages until she fell on the opening of chapter 8. “October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pompfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among…” 

For nearly an hour and a half, the young family drifted off into dreamland, the words coming to life through Diana’s voice. “Do we have to stop?” Diana said, bouncing up and down in her grandmother’s lap. “I have to know what happens with the Polyjuice Potion!”

“But aren’t you hungry?” Luke said, his stomach grumbling loud enough for the four of them to hear. “I know I am.”

She looked down at her stomach, poking it with her tiny fingers. “Yea,” she sighed. Being pulled away from her book was the opposite of what she wanted right now. “But after lunch can we come back and have you read some more.”

“Absolutely, my sweet angel,” Diana said, lifting the girl off her lap and standing up from the chair. While the two of them spoke, Luke and Spencer signed the necessary papers to take her out of the facility for a couple of hours. After much deliberation, the four of them decided on heading to the local diner.

“I want french fries!” Diana said from the back seat, where she was holding her grandmother’s hand. “And honey mustard. Does the diner have honey mustard?”

“We can ask, baby,” Luke said. He hated honey mustard, she must’ve gotten that love from Kailanni. 

“What do you wanna eat, grandma?”

Spencer’s mother brought her hand to her chin in the typical thinking pose. “Hmmm…I think I want a big, giant, juicy burger…with cheese. The burgers at this diner are as big as your face.”

Diana giggled, the image of a burger for a head popping into her brain. “Thumper thinks that sounds delicious.”

“He can definitely have a bite if he wants,” Diana said, taking the bunny from her granddaughter’s arms and sitting him in her lap. “As long as he’s neat and clean when he eats.”

“Don’t worry, grandma, he uses napkins and takes small bites.” The overjoyed fathers said very little at lunch - the conversation between grandmother and granddaughter was all they needed. The fact that Diana was well enough to get to know her granddaughter was gift enough for them.

Towards the end of lunch, grandma Diana looked tired. She wasn’t used to so much activity anymore. “When we get back, I need a nap. Then we can continue Harry Potter, okay?” Mini Diana rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“Can I take a nap with you? I’m tired too.”

When they got back to the facility, the ladies grabbed the bed, while Spencer and Luke grabbed a few minutes of sleep up against the wall of Diana’s room. Apparently, after the few minutes of broken sleep, Diana’s fathers had fallen into a deep sleep, bring shaken awake by their daughter after she and her grandmother had woken up. “Time to read more Harry Potter!” she cried, poking them both in the chest while she and her grandmother walked back out to the chairs they were sitting in before. 

Sleepily, Luke and Spencer returned to their chairs, leaning against each other and using Diana’s voice to lull them back off to sleep. “Okay, where did we leave off?”

“We’re starting chapter 11,” Diana said softly, curling herself into her grandmother’s chest. “Thank you reading to me.”

“Always, honey.” As the sun started its descent, a sliver peaking in through the blinds, grandma started reading once again. “Harry woke up on Sunday morning to find the dormitory blazing with winter sunlight…”


	19. Making a Good Impression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana comes up with and executes, with the help of her fathers, an amazing science fair project that is sure to impress her third grade teacher.

Nearly every day since Diana had started school, she came off the bus with a gigantic smile on her face. Their baby loved to learn. But today, she was straight-faced, continuously swallowing a lump in her throat. “What’s wrong?” Spencer asked, as she stepped off the stairs. Today was Spencer’s day off, so he got Diana off the bus while Luke was at work. “Did something happen today?”

“No,” she said as they walked into the house. “But Mrs. Augusto said that we have a science fair coming up, and everyone has to participate. It’s going to be a big part of our grade for the year. It doesn’t have to be science, but we have to run an experiment.”

“And you’re nervous?” Spencer asked. It was the first time she’d been scared about school in that way. “Just do your best, baby. Dad and I will help you. Have you thought about what you want to do? Maybe something like showing how a compass works?”

She shook her head. “Not that. Billy said he was going to do that. I don’t want to copy him. I have an idea, but I might need your help and Dad’s help.” She looked up at her father hopeful that he wouldn’t mind helping her execute her big idea. 

“What is it, baby? What’s your idea?”

As they walked into the house, Diana sat down at the table, taking out her notebook and showing her Daddy a list of what she’d written down. “I want to look at how music makes a movie,” she said proudly, turning the notebook toward Spencer so he could see her handwriting, which was pretty good for a 6.5 year old. In her notebook, she’d listed 10 different Disney movies they’d watched, most of them from the early-90s and forward. “I want to look at five happy scenes from different movies, five sad scenes, five scary scenes, and five action scenes. Then I want to listen to what the instruments are, how the notes rise and fall, and then I can watch them again to listen to the melodies and count the beats. After I’m done I can compare all the happy, sad, scary and action scenes to each other and see if they have something in common…” She looked down at her notebook, drawing a shaky lined heart next to her idea; she was very proud of herself - and she should have been.

“That’s a very advanced science project, baby. That’s going to take a lot of work,” he said, his lips held tightly together. He didn’t want to tell her that the idea was way beyond her years, because if she felt like she could do it he wanted her to know that the sky was the limit. But he also didn’t want to pressure her.

Standing up from the table, she pushed a chair into the kitchen and grabbed a glass for herself, pouring some milk before returning to her daddy’s side. “I know. I need to look up some music words and make sure I know what they mean, and I might need your help or Dad’s help, but I think I can do it. I want to impress Mrs. Augusto. She said she liked the idea.”

“So she already said you could do this project if you wanted to?” he asked. Excitedly, she shook her head, running back to her room to grab two movies. 

“Can we start now? I’m not nervous about the project, but I am a little nervous about impressing Mrs. Augusto,” she said, walking over to the DVD player and inserting Tangled, one of the first ones she ever saw. 

“Let me start dinner,” Spencer said, walking into the kitchen and placing a pot on the stove. It needed to be simple; tonight was a pasta kind of night. “Then I’ll come over and we can watch. When Dad gets home, you can tell him all about your idea.” 

Diana sat on the couch with her notebook open in her lap as the music started up. “I think I’ll pick three scenes from this movie.”

About ten minutes later, the water and boiled and Spencer put the pasta in the pot. Walking up to the DVD player, he paused the movie, throwing Diana off. “Why’d you do that, Daddy?”

Just then, Luke walked into the room and Spencer motioned for him to sit down. Whether he knew it or not, Luke wanted to be in on this little piece of wisdom he was about to give to their daughter. “Because I need to say something,” he said, bringing Diana into his lap. “I want you to know that as long as you try hard in school, Dad and I will always be proud of you. We don’t want you to push yourself too hard, okay?” He knew first-hand the weight of expectation - sometimes it did more harm than good - and that was the last thing he wanted for Diana.

“Okay, Daddy,” she replied, wrapping her hands around his neck. “I want to try something a little bit harder than my grade because my stuff is kind of easy. Dad, you wanna hear what I’m going to do for my science fair project?!”

While Diana regaled Luke with her amazing idea, Spencer finished cooking some pasta, heating up the sauce they’d frozen a couple weeks earlier before sitting down to have dinner. “That sounds like an amazing idea. ” He walked over to Spencer to give him a kiss. “Our daughter’s a genius,” he whispered. “That sounds like an advanced idea for a not-even-seven-year-old.”

“It is,” Spencer replied, putting a serving of pasta and sauce on the plate for Diana. “It’s more along the lines of a sixth grader.” With a smile, Luke bent down to kiss his daughter on the forehead.

“So what movies are you going to watch?” Luke asked.

“Tangled, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, The Princess and The Frog, Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frozen, and Aladdin,” she said. “Can we re-watch them together?” Her toothy grin was too cute to handle and they couldn’t possibly say no.

“One of us will definitely be here to help you with each movie,” Luke said. Since Diana had entered third-grade, he and Spencer had upped their work schedules slightly, going to work when she went to school and each of them alternating to pick her up. And more importantly, if a case called them away, only one of them went and the other remained on call from home to lend their expertise. They were determined to always have one of them around to raise her - without question. “So tell Daddy and I how you are going to analyze the music? You know what analyze means, right?”

“Of course, Dad,” she huffed happily, as if every girl her age knew the meaning of such a word. “It means to look at how something is put together or how it works for the purpose of explaining it to someone else.”

Spencer beamed, his ridiculously bright smile causing Luke to snort. Spencer was stupidly proud. “She’s a genius,” he said to Luke, poking him in the arm. “Our baby’s a genius!”

“I know!” Luke exclaimed. He turned his attention back toward Diana. “So how are you going to analyze each of the movies?”

She’d told them both earlier that she wanted to look at five happy, five sad, five scary and five action scenes in the total of ten movies. “Well, each scene that I pick would have to be at least 20 seconds long, because otherwise I won’t be able to get enough information, and I’ll have to rewatch the movies a couple of times because I have to pay attention to different things each time. The first time, I’ll try and figure out what instruments play in each scene. That’s where I may need your help Daddy. I don’t know all the instruments.” 

“No problem, baby,” he said. “What will you listen for when you watch them again?”

After that, she’d listen for rising and falling scales in each scene, melodies, keys, and beats per minute. She’d put all of the information in a chart for her project and then, when the time came, she would make a conclusion about each type of scene and how the music impacted seeing the movie. “I figure I’ll also watch the scenes once without any sound as my control.” 

By the time she’d finished detailing her entire project, they’d all finished dinner. “Can we watch Tangled once tonight?” she asked. “I may need to watch it again, but I want to watch with both of you right now.” Spencer cleaned off the table while Luke sat down, waiting for his husband to finish up and sit next to him before starting the movie. “Ready!” Diana pressed the button and ran toward the couch, laying across both her Daddies’ laps and writing in her notebook. Within minutes, she was already taking notes. 

Their little girl was surely going to impress her teacher. 

—-

Nearly a month went by before her project was finished, but once it was, Diana walked into the auditorium, where everyone in the school, grades 1 through 6, nearly 300 students, had their projects set up. Parents were invited to attend and look at everyone’s hard work, and each child would be interviewed by their respective teacher about their project and what conclusions they came to. 

With her head held high, Diana stood in front of her teacher, a couple of other students, as well as her fathers, and Aunt JJ, who was there for Michael’s project. After she was done, her teacher calculated her grade right then and there, handing her a paper with a giant letter written on it. “I got an A!” she cried.

Running into her father’s arms, she squeezed tight as Mrs. Augusto came over. “I can tell a lot of work went into this,” she said softly. “You did a great job, Diana. Very impressive.”


	20. Did That Just Happen?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer gets a statistic wrong, and Diana corrects him. XD

End of Diana’s third grade year. She was a little over seven years old.

It was a Thursday. 

A day Spencer would always remember.

“What did you just say?” Spencer asked in disbelief, turning around from the stove toward his daughter. “Repeat that.”

“The three deadliest volcanoes have been in Indonesia, Indonesia again, and then Martinique,” Diana said again. “They’re not all in Indonesia.” Luke and Spencer were in the kitchen cooking dinner and Diana was sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework for the night. 

Luke sidled over closer to Spencer, whose mouth was still dropped open like a Looney Tunes cartoon. “Babe,” he breathed. “Did you just get a statistic wrong? Are you feeling okay?” With the back of his hand, Luke jokingly checked his husband’s forehead for his temperature. 

“Shut up,” he whispered, playfully swatting Luke’s hand away as he stared at their daughter in awe. “Indonesia has had the deadliest volcanoes…didn’t they?” How had they even gotten on the topic of volcanoes? That’s right, Diana had a report to do on natural disasters. That’s what she was working on at the table. 

He thought he’d whispered that last bit, but apparently he hadn’t. “Indonesia has had the two deadliest eruptions in history,” Diana said proudly, “But the third most deadly was in Martinique.”

“No way,” Spencer said disbelievingly. He walked out of the kitchen and toward the family computer in the living room, pulling up a tab to look up whether he was right or not. He had to be right…right? “They were all in Indonesia…”

Diana could tell her Daddy was confused. She snickered at the table, staring at him and waiting for him to find what he needed. “So who’s right, Daddy?”

Spencer stared slack-jawed at the computer screen, his eyes glazing over in a stupor. “That can’t be,” he said. “That just can’t be. What is wrong with me?” Luke came up from the kitchen, having turned off the stove for a second. Gently, he massaged Spencer’s shoulders. He was going to start having an identity crisis. And Diana thought all of this was very funny. 

“You got it wrong, didn’t you?” Luke asked, kissing him on the head. He turned his head toward Diana and stifled a laugh, but watching him hold it in only made Diana laugh harder.

“I’m right, aren’t I, Daddy?” she asked, skipping over to his side from the table. Her homework was nearly done. “It’s okay.” She placed her hand on Spencer’s hair, smoothing it back as he stared at the computer in a daze. This was probably the first time since he was Diana’s age that he had gotten a statistic wrong. He was going to have to pass the crown. 

“Yes, you were baby,” he said, turning to smile at his daughter. He was thrown off by his own forgetfulness, but he was infinitely prouder of his baby girl. “Another Indonesian explosion is in the top ten, but yes, the third deadliest volcano was in Mont Pelee, Martinique.”

Standing up from the table, he walked to the hall closet where they kept random crap that didn’t go anywhere else. In it, were remnants of old Halloween costumes, including a crown from a couple of years ago, when he and Luke had walked around as Kings and Diana walked around as a princess. He put the crown on his head and walked back out into the kitchen to help Luke finish up with dinner. 

Luke playfully smacked Spencer’s butt, asking him what the crown was for. “Are we role-playing later and you’re just getting a head start?”

“Don’t put ideas in my head, babe,” he replied. “Although…no that’s not what it’s for. I was the King of statistics, but I think are daughter is about to take my place, and if someone has to take my place, I’m okay with it being her.”

“What about me?” Luke joked. “Would you be okay if I became the king of statistics?”

“Yes,” he said immediately. “Only her.”

As Luke piled some couscous onto a plate for three of them, Spencer walked up to their daughter and kneeled in front of her with the crown in hand. “What’s the crown for, Daddy?” she laughed. 

“I was once the King of Statistics,” he said, pushing the crown toward her and bowing his head. “But I think you have taken over. I am handing over my crown.” With a look of unrestrained joy, Diana took the crown from Spencer’s hands and placed it on her head. 

It was still a bit big, so it wound up a little lopsided on her head, but she didn’t care. “Can I be King, or do I have to be Queen because I’m a girl?” she asked.

“You can call yourself whatever you want, baby.” Luke called as he brought food over to the dining room table.

“Then I’m the King of Statistics now!” She claimed that Roxy was now her royal steed and Luke and Spencer were, of course, her royal subjects. “You can fill in for me as King if for some reason I can’t fulfill my duties. Okay Daddy?”

A huff of air escaped Spencer as he laughed. “Sounds good, baby,” he replied. “Now, does the King want her dinner?”

“Yes please,” she said, sitting happily down at the table and digging into her food. “I think I need a cape or something to carry behind me.” 

Luke got up from the table, walking toward his daughter’s room to grab her favorite blanket. Once he came out, he held it in his hands like it was the finest silk, and came to kneel at her side. “Will this do for a cape, my King?”

“That will do splendidly, Dad. Thank you.” Standing up, he draped the blanket over her shoulders and sat back down at the table. After everyone finished up with dinner, Luke did the dishes while Spencer sat at the computer and looked up everything he possibly could on volcanoes. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Diana rub the sleep from her own. “The King is sleepy now,” she said. “I’ve finished my homework. Can one or more of my royal subjects tuck me in?”

“Of course, baby,” Luke said, wondering if Spencer was conscious enough or if his brain had short-circuited in front of the computer screen. 

“Goodnight, Daddy!” Diana called back. “Study hard!” She started giggling on the way back to the bedroom. All cocky now that she was King.

Luke tucked Diana in and within minutes of starting a book, she fell asleep. He walked out as quietly as he could and went to the random closet of crap, searching around for another crown. When he found it, he came up behind Spencer and put the crown on his head. “What’s this for?” he asked in a daze, eyes still glued to the screen.

“I wasn’t joking about that whole role-play thing earlier.”

“Oh?” he said, turning around to see Luke’s smirk. “Ohhhhhhh…yea, this can wait.”


	21. If You Believe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana, Luke and Spencer spend their 8th Christmas as a family together with presents and pancakes.

“Do you think we have enough?” Luke asked again. “Are you sure we have enough?”

Spencer laughed, thinking about the mound of presents outside that they’d just got finished wrapping. Everything had been wrapped, stamped from Santa and left under the tree. “I think we have plenty, babe,” he laughed. “It took us over two and a half hours to wrap it all.”

“But that could be because we suck at wrapping,” he said seriously. They did suck at wrapping, but that was beside the point. He was really worried they didn’t have enough for their daughter. “I don’t want her to stop believing in Santa just yet.”

“I know,” Spencer replied. “I don’t either. But the amount of presents we got her doesn’t mean anything in that regard. Let’s go over the list again. What did we get her?” It was Christmas Eve. They couldn’t get anything else anyway, but if counting them again got Luke to chill a bit, he’d do it. 

As they went over the list yet again, Luke started to realize they had plenty - more than plenty. And almost all of them were from the list she’d written to Santa. A Rubik’s cube. A Star Wars lego set. A Captain American shield backpack. New outfits for Thumper, who she’d had for nearly four years. The entire series of Harry Potter books, for herself, because now that they’d finished them together, she wanted to read them again by herself. A bunch of little puzzles like the Rubik’s cube, all packaged separately. Another couple of smaller lego sets to go with the big Star Wars one. “And the trip to New York,” Spencer said. “That’s from ‘us.’ Plus, whatever her aunts and uncles get her. Our daughter has wanted for nothing since the day she came home. We’re good.”

“You sure?” he laughed. “The trip is kind of for us too.”

“Yes, babe. Go to sleep,” Spencer replied. “And Merry Christmas Eve.”

—-

“Wake up!” Diana screamed, banging on the door to her Daddies’ bedroom. “It’s Christmas! As she peeked inside, Spencer playfully pulled the blanket over his head and she ran in and jumped on the both. “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”

After pulling Diana under the blankets and smothering her with Christmas kisses, the three of them went outside and Diana sat patiently at the pile of presents, while Luke got the camera and Spencer started to cook pancakes. “Alright, camera is on,” Luke said, making sure Diana was perfectly in frame. “Go ahead and pick your first one.” 

Looking around, Diana pawed at each of the gifts, trying to figure out what they were and which one was best to open first. Roxy thought that looked like fun, so she started pawing at the presents too. “Don’t worry, Roxy,” Spencer said from the kitchen. “We didn’t forget you.” He reached across the counter and grabbed a rawhide bone with a bow on top. Roxy was now good to go. 

Finally, Diana decided on one of the smaller gifts. “It’s a star puzzle!” she said happily, already trying to open it. Spencer convinced her to wait to play with it; his aunt Emily could tell her all about the story behind the star puzzle. Apparently, it was supposed to be cute.

“You have so many other gifts to open from Santa,” Luke said. “What do you want next?”

She picked another one, reaching over and pulling it into her lap before hesitating. “You know, Dad. I know Santa isn’t real.”

Both Luke and Spencer snapped their heads in the direction of their daughter. Who did they have to kill for ruining that for her? “Who told you that?” Spencer asked.

“No one,” she replied. “But if you think about how many kids get presents on Christmas morning, it’s physically impossible for him to get to everyone’s house in the allotted amount of time. Plus,” she said, holding the present she had in front of Luke’s eyes, “This looks like Daddy’s handwriting.” Spencer did have pretty unique handwriting, despite trying to change it for his Santa signature.

They stared at her in awe. Apparently, she had put it together a year earlier, but said she played along with it because it was fun. “It’s fun kid stuff. Plus, Christmas is still magical.”

“Why’s that?” Luke asked. “Knowing Santa isn’t real doesn’t ruin it for you?”

“No,” she said happily, gently ripping open the paper to reveal her Rubik’s cube. “Because that means that all these presents are from you and Daddy and you got them for me because you love me. That’s pretty magical to me.” As she put the Rubik’s cube on the ground, Luke smiled. For two men who had no idea how to raise a baby, he figured they’d done pretty well. “Thanks for all the presents!” She gave Luke a hug and then ran into the kitchen to do the same for Spencer; he teared up at what an amazing little girl she was.

Once Spencer finished making breakfast, the three of them sat near the Christmas tree opening presents and eating while classic Christmas music from when Spencer and Luke were children played in the background. Gift after gift was opened with care and joy until she was toward the end of the pile. She still had yet to open the Star Wars Lego set and the gift from ‘them’ and not ‘Santa.’

“I wanted to save the biggest one for last,” she said, picking up the Lego set. Ever so slightly, she peeled back the paper, until she saw the font - then she decided to rip the paper to shreds. “It’s Star Wars! Yay!” She piled up her toys neatly, until she saw the small envelope under the tree. “Who’s that for?”

“That’s for you, too,” Luke said, reaching toward the tree and handing her the envelope. Inside were confirmation numbers for a trip to New York. They would go for an extended weekend, and during that time, they’d go see a Broadway show. 

At first, she wasn’t quite sure what it was, flipping through the confirmation numbers before setting her eyes on those two words - New York. “We’re going to New York?!” she squealed, jumping up and down when her Daddies nodded their heads in unison. “Do we get to see a Broadway show?” She’d heard a few soundtracks for the current string of Broadway shows, but she’d never been before, and the two fathers hadn’t seen a Broadway play in years.

“Yes, we do,” Spencer said. “Guess which one?” A small smile crept across his face. It was the one she’d wanted to see since the second she heard the soundtrack. It was on Broadway more than a decade earlier, but hadn’t returned until now. They actually bought the tickets to the play last Christmas.

Diana guess a few, probably because she never imagined they’d be able to get tickets to the one she wanted. “No!” she screamed, her eyes going wide. Then she whispered, as if saying it aloud might make it to real, so she could get disappointed. “Did you get tickets to Hamilton?”

The resulting screech nearly deafened both men, but it still would’ve been worth it. Christmas after Christmas, they were sure that the current one couldn’t be better than the last. Last year, they’d gotten her her first bike - and she’d used it nearly every day since. But this year definitely had it beat. And it wasn’t even 10 o’clock in the morning yet.


	22. Up All Night - Or Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana, her bestie Emma, and a new friend, Monique, have a sleepover at Diana's house.

“Baby, chill,” Spencer said, laughing as Diana sat at the dining room table staring at the door. “They won’t be here for a half hour still.” Emma and her new friend from 4th grade, Monique, were coming over for a sleepover. Given his and Luke’s crazy schedules, it was nearly impossible to host things like this, so this was Diana’s first sleepover.

Pushing off from the dining room chair, she ran into the living room where she’d already set up three sleeping bags, piled up extra blankets and pillows in the corner, set up so many Disney movies that they’d never actually be able to get through them all, and set out enough snacks to feed a small army. “A little excited there, Diana?” Luke asked as he emerged from the bedroom.

“Just a little,” she said before being cut off by a knock at the door. “That’s someone now!” She ran up to the door, but didn’t open it, waiting for Luke to come by her side and let their guest in. Since she could physically open a door by herself, Spencer and Luke had told her never to open the front door without one of them there. 

“Emma!” she screamed, wrapping her arms around her forever friend. Despite being grades apart now, Emma’s parents, Luke and Spencer did everything they could to make sure the girls kept in touch. “I have everything set up already.” She really did; she’d been so excited about having her first real sleepover that she’d set up everything herself. 

While the girls ran inside and started talking, Luke and Spencer assured Emma’s mother that everything would be fine. “You both work for the FBI, so they probably couldn’t be left in better hands,” she laughed. “Who’s this?” Monique came running past the adults and into the living room, with her parents close behind.

“That was Diana’s friend from fourth grade, Monique,” Luke laughed, watching as Monique ran faster that a speeding bullet and introducing Emma’s mother to Monique’s parents. “It seems they’re a little excited.”

Monique’s mom chuckled, obviously having heard from her daughter quite a lot about this little get together. “Since Diana invited her, she’d been talking about nothing else. Apparently, they have big plans.”

“Hopefully not too big,” Spencer heard from the car just a few feet away. Monique’s father laugh boisterously. “No boys, right?”

“No,” Spencer called. Although he wouldn’t have had an issue with a sleepover with boys at this young an age. When she was older, that was a different story, but they weren’t quite there yet. Thank god. He dreaded trying to figure out with Luke how to give their teenage daughter the sex talk. “Just the three girls tonight.”

After saying goodbye, the girls’ parents left, promising to pick them up tomorrow afternoon. “Alright, girls,” Luke said, “Do you need anything before Spencer and I go to bed?” They weren’t actually going to sleep, but they did want to allow Diana to feel like she wasn’t be chaperoned even though she was. 

“No,” they said in unison. “We’re just going to start watching a movie. All three of them were into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies at the moment. Who knew that they would be considered old one day, Spencer thought to himself. 

“Okay,” Spencer said, taking Luke’s hand and walking back toward the bedroom. “If you girls need anything just knock on the door. It doesn’t matter what time it is.”

Diana said thank you, as did her friends for allowing them to stay the night. Much to their surprise, Diana ran toward them both to give them a hug and a kiss goodnight; they were sure she was getting to that point where she didn’t want to show that kind of affection in front of her friends, but they were going to take it as long as they could. “Goodnight, girls.”

“Goodnight!” they called. As soon as the two men closed their bedroom door, they could hear Diana and her friends whispering about how they were all alone now, it was actually pretty cute.

“Should we start the movie now?” she asked, sitting in between her two friends with a bowl of popcorn. 

Meanwhile, inside, Spencer and Luke got ready for bed, deciding to cuddle up and watch their own movie while the girls giggled outside. “How’re they doing out there?” Luke asked, Spencer’s head resting against his chest.

“They’re good,” Spencer replied with a smile. “I think Pirates is almost over, and wait…I hear footsteps.”

“Daddy! Dad!” Diana called. “Can you grab a board game from the closet for me? I can’t reach!” With a laugh, Luke pushed off the bed and walked over to the door. 

She had about 10 board games already set out. Apparently, none of them were good enough. “Didn’t you already take out a ton of board games?” he asked.

“We couldn’t decide on which one to play, but we all want to play Disney Trivial Pursuit,” she said. At least they decided they wanted to play that before he and Spencer fell asleep. “Goodnight, Dad. I love you.”

“Love you too, sweetheart,” he said sleepily. “Have a good night.” Once he closed the door, he returned to bed, placing Spencer’s head back on his chest as the two fell asleep. Diana had plans for the night - involving many movies, lots of food and plenty of talking with her friends. Hopefully, they’d be entertained enough for the night. 

—–

Three different games of trivial pursuit were played before the girls ran out of trivia questions to be asked. “Should we watch another movie?” Monique asked, yawning and stretching her arms out in front of her. She was tired. When Diana looked to the side, Emma was seconds away from falling asleep on her shoulder.

“Why don’t we just put on another movie while we fall asleep,” Diana said, crawling over to the Blu-Ray player and turning on the third Pirates movie. It was only 12:30 AM, but no one was going to make it much longer. For all of their plans, they were still only 8 and 10 years old, the late hour too much for their bodies to handle. As they drifted off to sleep, Diana pulled the blanket over all three of them, falling asleep just as her Daddy came out of his room to go to the bathroom.

—–

The moment Spencer walked out of the bedroom, he had to stifle a chuckle. Diana had talked so much about all the things they were going to do, but as big a girl as she was, she was still young, and couldn’t stay up all that late. He’d have to prepare her for college - oh, the late nights. Thankfully, he and Luke had thought ahead, doubting that the three were going to be able to make it up all night and had already asked the girls’ parents if it was okay for them to stay until after dinner the next day so they could spend more time together. 

After using the restroom, he crept back inside, making sure to not make any noise. He needed to get some sleep. He was on chocolate-chip pancake duty in the morning. Luke was the bacon man. “They good?” Luke asked sleepily, his eyes stilled closed and his face basically smashed into the pillow.

“Already falling asleep,” he replied. “We should do the same.”

“Yea,” Luke mumbled. “I am the bacon man.”

—–

The next morning, around 7:30, Spencer and Luke woke up on their own. Their bodily clocks didn’t allow them to sleep all that much later anymore. The girls seemed to just be waking up themselves. Their chatter had a hint of disappointment in it. Diana was sad that they wouldn’t have enough time together because they’d fallen asleep to soon.

“Don’t worry,” Spencer said happily as he walked out of the bedroom. “Dad and I already asked Emma’s and Monique’s parents if they could stay until after dinner. I thought you might fall asleep early.”

With that, everyone’s faces perked up. “Now, who wants chocolate-chip pancakes and bacon?” Luke said from behind Spencer. 

“Me!”

“Me!”

“Me!” They all screamed at once, sitting down at the table. He and Luke were going to have their hands full today. Maybe they could take them to the movies, or maybe the zoo. All they knew was that the girls had gotten a full night’s sleep and didn’t want to sit around the house all day. Good thing they were making enough pancakes and bacon for about twice as many people as there were, because all of them were going to need energy for today.


	23. Take Your Kids to Work Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana, and Michael LaMontagne, accompany their parents to work for the day.

“You ready for work, baby girl?” Luke said, picking up his now eight-year-old daughter. “I think you’re getting a little big for us to pick you up.” Faking a back injury, he groaned, placing her back on the floor.

“Do I get to work a big case like you and Daddy?” she asked sweetly. Of course she knew the answer, but that didn’t keep her from being in awe of what her daddies did for a living. “I wanna shoot the bad guys.”

Spencer snorted. God, he hoped she didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. He couldn’t imagine the light of his life being in the line of fire like he was. If she joined the Bureau, he’d die of a heart attack. “You may be a big kid now, but you are still too young to shoot the bad guys,” he said much to her dismay. “If you’re lucky, Dad and I will take you into the shooting range.”

Excitedly, she skipped out of the house with her Captain America shield backpack affixed to her - and even at 8, she still enjoyed having Thumper along for the ride. “Will Michael be there?” she asked. A couple years older, Michael was definitely going to be following in his mother’s footsteps. They could all tell already. 

“Yup,” Spencer said as he got into the driver’s seat. “Michael’s coming. He’s very excited to see you.” Being so close in age, and with parents in the FBI, they were very close. “And there’ll be plenty of other FBI kids there to talk to.”

Within about 15 minutes, Diana, Luke and Spencer were in the elevator on their way up to the bullpen. “Michael!” she cried as the doors opened, running over to give him a hug. 

“Hi, Diana,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “Wanna go to the conference room where the other kids are?” He put his arm for her hand, like the little gentlemen JJ had raised him to be.

“We could be in-laws one day,” JJ said jokingly. “He’s missed her.”

Spencer put his arm around JJ’s neck, pulling her in close. “She’s missed him too.” With how often they were all away, it was more than a little difficult to keep the kids in touch with each other. Plus side was, that no matter what happened, they always made sure to Skype with each other, so Diana got more Skype time in than any other kids they knew.

While the adults got seated and started on some paperwork, the kids played and talked in the round table room. Diana was playing on her iPad with Michael and another boy; his name was Mark if Luke remembered correctly. 

—–

“Are we gonna get to go to the shooting range?” Michael asked hopefully. After watching his mom for so many years, he fully intended to be just like her. He’d already told her he wanted to be an agent. Not to her surprise, but much to her dismay. 

Diana spun around in her chair, handing Michael the iPad to play a round of the game they were playing. “I think so. Daddy said if I’m lucky we can go to the shooting range, but I think that means yes. I’d like to know what it’s like to shoot a gun.”

“Me too,” Michael replied, taking Diana’s seat at the round table while she walked around the room. “I want to be really, really good at aiming when I try out for the Bureau. What about you?”

“What about me?” she asked, not making the connection. She admired what her daddies did - they were heroes to her, but it never crossed her mind to do the same thing. When Michael asked if she wanted to join the Bureau one day too, she said no. “Right now, I think I want to be a marine biologist, but I am only 8, so maybe I’ll change my mind. I might want to be a doctor too. That’s the other thing I keep thinking of.”

Michael lost on his game, exclaiming so loudly that JJ heard him from the bullpen and told him to watch his language. Diana laughed at his outburst. Michael did always get frustrated when he lost at games. “I could understand wanting to be a doctor,” he said, pointing at his Uncle Spencer. “But what makes you want to be a marine biologist?”

“I went to the zoo one day a few years ago, and Daddy and Dad were telling me all about the animals there. I really like the Harbor seals. They’re really cute. I think I might want to work to help protect endangered marine life. It would be horrible if something so cute went extinct. I think I want to help.” 

Unlike Michael, who needed silence to concentrate on a game, Diana tended to do better when she was talking, so she beat the level just as she finished telling him all about her “right now” future plans. “You think you’ll go to college early like Uncle Spencer?” Michael asked.

“Early yea,” she said, passing the game back to Michael, “But not as early as he did. I think I want to do one year of high school first - and then go to college. So maybe at 15.” That was still a lifetime away for her. “You definitely want to be an agent?”

“Definitely,” he said. “And Henry is going to be an art therapist and work with victims of trauma. But I still have a while.”

“Okay kids,” JJ said, followed closely by Luke, Spencer, Emily and numerous Bureau parents. “Who wants to go see the shooting range?”

A round of cries resounded throughout the room. “Okay,” she said. “We can go, but there are some rules.”

Spencer piped up from the back, looking directly at Diana and Michael. “No touching anything without an adults permission.”

“All of the weapons back there are live,” Luke chimed in. “That means they have real ammunition in them, so if you don’t listen, you could hurt yourself or someone else.”

“And of course,” Emily said, walking into the room and kissing Diana and Michael on the heads, “None of you gets to hold a gun by yourself. An adult will show you how things work. Follow us!”

—–

After a short walk to the shooting range, all eight of the children were outfitted with noise-canceling headphones. “Michael,” JJ said, “How about you stick with Uncle Spencer? Some guy time? Then Diana and I can get some girl time.”

“Cool,” he said, running toward Spencer. “Uncle Spencer can you teach me all about the guns you use? I wanna be an agent like mom and you.” Spencer hated the idea of any kid he loved taking on this job, but just like his mother, Michael was headstrong and determined. If he wanted to be an agent, he would. 

He lowered the target ahead to Michael’s level and started telling him all about the standard Glocks the Bureau tended to use, although he had quite a different pistol. “Most of the Bureau uses a .40 caliber Glock with a 15-round magazine in it. You know what a magazine is?”

“The thing that holds the bullets,” he said proudly. “So this one holds 15.” He ran his hands over the magazine, asking his Uncle question after question about how it worked and how often they had to use it at the Bureau. 

Spencer put the magazine in the gun and then discharged it, showing Michael how to do it too. “Now, if you’re serious about joining the Bureau one day, there is something you need to know, okay?” Michael listened intently. Normally, his Uncle didn’t sound so serious. “It may seem cool to hold a gun. But they can kill people if you’re not careful, and even when you mean to kill people, like the bad guys, it’s not fun. It’s not like a video game.”

“I know,” Michael nodded. “Mom told me the same thing when I started playing the shooter video games. I know it’s not the same. I just want to know how to take out the bad guys if I need to.” Just as Spencer finished telling Michael a little bit more about the gun, he heard an echo of his statement. Apparently, JJ was at the same point in her talk with Diana. 

After checking with all of the agents and their respective children, Luke called out that the weapons were live. “Show me what you can do, Michael,” Spencer said, placing his hands on the outside of Michael’s and helping him aim. At first, he hit very low on the paper. “That’s because you are keeping your eye closed. It feels weird, but both eyes need to be open.” Again, he attempted to shoot and got closer, until by the end of the round, he hit both the heart and the head of the paper man. “Good job, kiddo. How does that feel?”

“It feels weird. Cool, but weird,” he laughed. “It hurts my arms.”

“That’s called kickback,” he replied. “You get used to it after a while. How you doing baby girl?” Proudly, she pointed to the target. She’d hit the head and heart, and much to JJ’s happiness, the groin, multiple times a piece. “You definitely get your shooting skills from Dad and not me,” he said as he gave her a high-five, thinking back to all those times he’d been aiming for one area and hit another. 

Everyone emptied their magazines in their own time and subsequently returned to the group of children to go back to the bullpen before lunch. “You know Michael wants to be an agent,” Spencer said to JJ. She nodded.

“Yea,” she sighed. “I hate it, but if he wants it, it’s going to happen. You don’t have to worry though.”

“Really? Luke asked as Emily and now Penelope ushered them back to the round table room. “She tell you she doesn’t want to be an agent?”

“Yea,” she replied. “Could change. She is only 8, but she told me she wants to be a marine biologist or a doctor. She just thought it would be cool to learn how to defend herself. I love that kid.”

“We do too,” Spencer laughed, breathing a sigh of relief, that at least for right now, Diana didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. “We kind of love that Michael too. Marine biologist or doctor….I’m good with those.”

“I’m good with whatever,” Luke laughed. “Just not this. I don’t think I could bear the thought. I hate that Michael even wants to do it.”

“You and me both,” JJ laughed. “But thankfully we don’t have to worry about any of that for quite a few years.” The kids were already back in the round table room by the time they got back. 

“We have a case,” Emily whispered. 

“Oh crap,” Spencer said. “What are we going to do?”

“Henry is just getting off from school,” JJ said. “If you want, he can pick them both up, and when he has to leave for class the next couple of days, he can call our babysitter. She’ll have no problem watching them both.”

“You sure?” Luke asked. “Henry wouldn’t mind?”

“No,” she said, “Not at all. He actually jokes that one day she’s gonna be his sister-in-law.” 

Thankfully, they didn’t have to be on the jet for another two hours, so they could all thank Henry for taking care of the kids before they left. “Hey hon,” JJ said, watching her eldest son get off the elevator. “You sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yea, mom,” he laughed, giving her a hug and then hugging his uncle. “It’s no problem. Diana’s better behaved than Michael.”

“You like her better than me,” Michael said, punching his brother in the arm. “I can’t believe you like her better than me.”

“Hi, Henry,” Diana said, giving Henry a hug. “Just tell Michael that you like me better because I’m cooler than he is.”

“It’s true,” Henry laughed, as Michael and Diana gave their parents a hug. 

“Stay safe, Daddy,” she said. “Stay safe, Dad.” 

“I’ve got them,” Henry assured them. “Stay safe. See you when you get home.” 

As the doors closed, all three parents laughed, hearing Diana singsong, “I’m cooler than you are. I’m cooler than you are.”


	24. How We Fell In Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Diana starts flipping through old albums and scrapbooks with pictures of her dads, she asks them to tell her about when they first met and fell in love.

“What’re you up to, babygirl?” Luke asked as Diana emerged from the hallway with what looked like a scrapbook in hand. From the looks of it, she was holding their wedding scrapbook in one hand, and her own first year scrapbook in other - both made by Garcia. With all of the teasing she gave him, calling him newbie and all that, she’d truly gone out of her way to make some spectacular scrapbooks for them. They kept them on top of their dresser in their bedroom. They both deserved to be seen. 

She plopped down on the couch, putting her baby scrapbook next to her while she opened the page to their wedding album. “I’m looking at pictures of you and Daddy when you got married,” she said, smiling at the stickers and quotes painting the insides of the pages. As she flipped through each page, Luke came to sit by her side, his arm resting just behind her on the couch. 

“Come on over,” Luke said as Spencer walked out of the bathroom, his hair still damp from a shower. “We’re looking at our wedding book from Garcia.”

With a warm smile, Spencer came to sit on Diana’s opposite side. “Wow, I got old,” he laughed, looking at his fresh-faced smile from their wedding day. 

“You only get finer with age, babe,” Luke replied, playfully smacking Spencer on the shoulder. After so many years of heartache for both of them, falling in love and getting married had been carefree and easy. Any difficulties they’d had in their relationship or in raising a child had been worth it.

Diana flipped back and forth through the pages making comments here and there. “How did you fall in love?” she asked. “When did you meet each other?” 

Spencer looked up, smirking at Luke. Every time they told this story to someone, they couldn’t believe that Luke was the one that had made the first move. Everyone was convinced it would’ve been Spencer - not so much on purpose, but randomly - blurting something out he hadn’t intended. “Well, we met at work,” Spencer started, gently playing with his daughter’s hair. “I’ve been working with the BAU since I was 22, but Dad joined many years later, after Uncle Derek retired to spend more time with Aunt Savannah and cousin Hank.”

“As soon as I started, I knew I liked Daddy a lot,” Luke continued. “You know how you like it when Daddy talks about something he enjoys, like statistics?” Diana shook her head; she always found what he had to say fascinating. “Well, I was that way too. Whenever Daddy would talk about something for a case, I would pay close attention. And then one day, we had to stay in another city overnight and Daddy and I got put in the same room. I was really nervous because I wanted to tell him I liked him, but I didn’t know whether he liked men or women or both.”

“I also really liked Dad,” Spencer said, laughing as Diana’s head snapped back and forth between the two as they spoke. “But I was too scared to tell him, because I thought he wouldn’t like me.”

This was where the story always differed. Luke was convinced that Spencer kissed him first, but it was actually the other way around. “Anyway,” Spencer continued, “We were both really frustrated by the case we were working on and Dad sat down next to me on the bed and put his hand on my shoulder. When I looked up, he kissed me.”

“He kissed me first,” Luke said, throwing shade at his husband. 

“No, baby. Dad kissed me first. Don’t listen to him.” Spencer smiled, slapping Luke on the shoulder.

What ensued was a round of slapping each other playfully, until Diana stood up between them and pushed them apart as she laughed. “What happened after the case was over?” she asked.

“Well, I think we can both agree that Daddy asked me out on a date when we got back, and we went to that Italian place you like,” Luke told their daughter. “You wanna go there tonight?” They hadn’t been in a while and it seemed like a nice family moment after the one they were currently having. 

Diana excitedly shook her head. It was her favorite restaurant; they had an amazing almond cake that she was obsessed with. She put the book on the floor and reached across Spencer’s lap to grab her baby book, opening the first page to reveal a tiny, squirmy Diana. “What about when I was born?”

Simultaneously, Luke and Spencer took a deep breath. “Well,” Luke started, “We were both very excited when we decided to have you, and even more excited when we found Kailanni.”

“My birth mom,” she said, looking at the picture of the woman who’s so selfless brought her into the world. “Can we see her soon?” They hadn’t been able to get together with Kailanni in a while. Her boys were getting older and needed more help getting to and from school activities. 

“Of course,” Spencer said. “I’ll give her a call soon. But when we took you home, Dad and I were petrified.”

“Really?” she asked surprised. “Why?”

“Why?” Luke laughed. “Because we’d never had a baby before. And you were tiny. And we were afraid of dropping you or hurting you or not giving you enough love. We were scared.”

“Wow,” she breathed. “You and Daddy never get scared.”

“We get scared all the time, baby,” Spencer said, kissing her forehead. “We just cover it up because we don’t want you to be scared too.” 

“Well you never dropped me right?” she asked, eliciting a laugh from both of them. “And you didn’t break me. And I have plenty of love, so I think you did a good job.” She kissed his cheek and then turned to do the same for Luke. “Are you still scared?”

“Every day,” Luke replied. “And I think we will be until the end of time. We’ll be scared when you first learn to drive.”

“And when you go on your first date, and pretty much any date you ever go on,” Spencer laughed. “We want you to be happy and safe and loved, and unfortunately, as you get older, it’ll be harder for Dad and I to make sure all of that happens.”

“But no matter what happens, Daddy and I will be here for you,” Luke finished. “Okay? Despite how scared we were and always will be, we love you more than anyone else in the world.”

“I love you both too. This much,” she said, opening her arms wide and giving them a hug. 

As she closed her baby book, she leaned against Spencer. “Do you wanna get dressed and go to dinner now?” he asked.

“Yes!” she cried, excitedly skipping to her bedroom to get changed out of her pajamas which she’d been in all day. When she returned, ready to go, she took the scrapbooks and put them back in their bedroom. “Thanks for telling me the stories of you and Dad, and me as a baby. I love them.”

“And we love you,” Spencer said, cradling his daughter’s head in his hands. “So much.”


	25. Shoot For the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana, Luke and Spencer meet up with Diana's birth mother, Kailanni, her husband Terrance, and their now teenage boys, Diana's half brothers, Javari and Tamonte.

“Javari! Tamonte!” Diana screamed, running up to her biological half-brothers. Kailanni, her husband, Terrance, and their two kids, Javari and Tamonte, were finally able to get together after going back and forth, trying to make plans and failing. It was Spring Break and Diana was nearly 9 years old, which meant that Kailanni’s boys were 14 and 17 now.

“Woah!” Luke exclaimed, walking up to Terrance and shaking his hand. “They’ve gotten big since the last time we saw them, and that wasn’t all that long ago. How’re you doing , boys?”

“Glad to have off from school for a couple of days, man,” Javari said. He was the older of the two, now picking and applying to colleges. This week, his mother had told both of her boys, studious and hard-working, to take the week off and not focus on school. It would still be there when they got back. “She got big too!” Diana ran into his arms and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, sis,” he said, while she hugged Tamonte. “How’re you doing?”

“I’m good! I’m excited to go on rides with you and Tamonte,” she replied. “Dad and Daddy said I could go on some of the crazy rides with you because they’re both chickens.”

“Hey,” Spencer chided playfully. “I am not.”

“Yes, you are,” she laughed. “Dad said so. He said both of you take out the bad guys, but that when it comes to rollercoasters you both scream like babies.”

Luke came up to Diana’s side, kneeling down to get right up in her face. “We are both total babies when it comes to rollercoasters. Don’t let him tell you otherwise.”

Javari and Tamonte looked at the two men in confusion. “You go up against serial killers and you’re scared of rollercoasters?”

“Behave!” Kailanni and Terrance said simultaneously.

Spencer laughed. “It’s fine. There is actually an explanation for that.” He watched as Luke turned toward him. That was one of the things he loved about his husband. Since the moment they’d met, Luke had been interested in everything he’d had to say. “Since we were both trained to do what we do, we don’t come across surprises per se, but when the body experiences something like that,” he said, pointing to the flipping coaster, “It comes as a surprise, and when our bodies or minds are surprised, we freak out because we don’t know how to handle things.”

“That actually kind of makes sense,” Tamonte said, looking from him and then down to Diana. “Wanna go on the coaster? You are tall enough for it.”

“Can I go on with Tamonte and Javari?” she asked. She turned around excitedly and hopped up and down on her new converse sneakers - two different colors naturally, taking after her Daddy. Today’s colors were blue and green. He and Luke shook their heads, watching as the boys held their little girl’s hands and walked toward the coaster. 

In the commotion with the kids, the adults hadn’t had the chance to say more than a few words to each other. “Kai,” Spencer said softly, wrapping his arms around her. “How’re you doing? Terrance?”

“Work’s insane,” Terrance laughed. As a high profile lawyer in the area, Luke and Spencer actually came across him in their daily lives more often than Kai. “But I still love what I do.” He was an immigration lawyer in the city, and a phenomenal one at that.

“I keep taking on random jobs so that I can stay home with the boys most of the time,” she said. “Especially now. Javari is applying to colleges and Tamonte won’t be far behind.”

It was amazing to Spencer and Luke that the boys were teenagers now. Although it was also insane to them that their little baby girl was nearly nine. “What colleges is Javari applying to?” Luke asked, looking toward Spencer. Maybe he could put in a good word if it happened to be one of his genius husband’s alma maters.

“He’s going top tier,” Kailanni said, her hand raised as a bar above her head. “Yale, Harvard, MIT…but he’s praying for CalTech. He wants to go into biology and biological engineering.”

“That’s fantastic,” Spencer said. “That’s one of my alma maters, so if he needs a recommendation or would like me to put in a good word, I’d be happy to.”

She excitedly clapped her hands and turned around to see the three kids walking back toward them. “Hey, Javari,” she said. “Spencer went to CalTech, so if you need a recommendation or you’d like him to call, let him know.”

“That would be fantastic,” he said, shaking Spencer’s hand in gratitude. “I mean, I have the grades, thankfully. But every little bit helps.”

“Can I go to CalTech, Daddy?” 

“You can go anywhere you want to go,” he said. “Once you turn 18. If you go to college before then, you’ll closer to home.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m thinking George Washington University or American University.”

“You looking at colleges, babygirl?” Luke laughed.

She shook her head up and down. Of course she was. She was her Daddy’s daughter too. As they walked toward the next roller coaster (apparently all three kids had decided that getting on every coaster was the goal for the day), the group of them talked about Diana wanting to go to medical school. Right now, she wanted to be a surgeon, but in what area in particular she wasn’t sure. “I’m thinking a pediatric or fetal surgeon right now, but I might change my mind.”

“Shoot for the sky, my love,” Spencer said. He gave her a kiss on the head before she ran off with her half-brothers to go on the next rollercoaster.

All four parents looked on in awe as the kids got on the rollercoaster and started screaming like maniacs. From what Terrance could see, his boys were screaming louder than Diana was.”So how are you two doing?” Kailanni asked. Although they’d kept in touch through texts and Skype over the past year, it had been nearly a year since they’d seen each other in person. “How’s fatherhood treating you?”

“It’s great,” Luke said.

Spencer nodded. “And petrifying.”

“That too.”

“Totally understandable…is she really looking at colleges already?” Terrance asked in amazement. “She’s what…nine?”

“Yea,” Spencer laughed. He wasn’t that much older than her when he first started college. “She could go in as little as two years. But honestly, we’re not sure what to do. I did that. I went to college when I was barely pubescent, and it was difficult. I’m not sure if we should subject her to that.”

“Want my opinion?” Kailanni asked with a laugh. She wasn’t involved in raising her, but she did want what was best for Diana. Both Spencer and Luke were more than open to someone else’s opinion. “If I were you, I would ask her how she feels. I think she would do well, but to go so far ahead at such a young age could isolate her from other kids.”

“That’s what we were thinking,” Luke said. “But we also don’t want to stunt her academic growth. She gets bored easily, so by this time in the school year, her teachers are looking for work that is grades above her level so she has something to do.”

Terrance piped in. “She’s not my baby girl,” he said. “But I think it’d be best if she went to high school for a year or so, made some friends there, and then if she wants, transfer to college. That way, she can keep in touch with friends her age while in school.”

That was what Diana’s dads had had in mind. When the time came, they’d have to talk to her about the whole thing. It was a big dilemma. “Hey baby,” Luke said, gathering his daughter in his arms as she got off the next coaster. “Have fun?”

“Yes! Kailanni, will you go on a ride with me?” she asked her birth mother. Kai was deathly afraid of rollercoasters and only went on them occasionally to appease her boys, but she’d go for Diana. 

Kai grimaced. When she looked at the next rollercoaster they found themselves in front of, she thought she might pass out. It was humongous. And twisty. And turny. And she was probably going to vomit. But she’d do it. “Yea, let’s go, love. Boys, you coming?” Her sons ran behind her happily. They hadn’t been on a ride like this with her in years. “Beware, I might throw up.” Spencer and Luke heard her as she walked away.

After a few moments, all three fathers, Spencer, Luke and Terrance noticed that they had been staring off in the distance, their minds wandering with thoughts of their families and how they’d come to be intertwined. “It’s amazing,” Terrance said, turning to sit at a table with Diana’s loving fathers. “I grew up in a broken home that was supposed to be the ‘typical ‘family,’ and now here we are, with one giant extended family, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

With a smile, Luke leaned into Spencer’s arms. Both he and Spencer had also come from broken homes. “Yea,” Spencer sighed, waiting for Kai, Javari, Tamonte and Diana to come back, “This is perfect.”


	26. Egg Hunt

“Alright, ready?” Spencer said to the five children in front of him. After much planning, he and Luke had put together a nighttime egg hunt for Diana and her friends. “You all have to work together to find the candy.” Spencer, Luke, JJ, Will, and the parents of Diana’s friends, Emma, Monique and Noah, all sat outside, ready to help the kids with the clues if they needed it - undoubtedly they wouldn’t. It was just a fun little activity they had planned to get the kids to work together. 

Diana took the first clue, reading it allowed for everyone to hear. “If ducks had these, they wouldn’t need wings. Go and look closely under the…”

“Swings!” Noah screamed. The parents sat nearby and laughed, watching as all of the kids ran toward the swings and found a blue glow-in-the-dark egg with another clue inside. “How about whoever gets the answer reads the next clue?” he said. None of the kids seemed to have a problem with that. “Delivering here may be the Easter Bunny’s other employ. Opening what’s been sent can bring you great joy?” 

They had to think about that one, but Monique got it. “Mailbox! How many clues are there?” she screamed toward Luke as the group ran toward the mailbox. 

“There are 10!” he called back. 

“You had fun writing these, didn’t you, Spence?” JJ asked, patting his arm. He’d always had a way with words. Watching his face light up at how much fun the kids were having was something she’d always hoped for him. She knew he’d make a great dad. And when he met Luke, well, she just knew it was meant to be. “Woah, did they get to the 4th clue already?”

“Yup,” Spencer laughed, watching them run from the mailbox to the bushes, where they picked up a glow-in-the-dark green egg. “Candy is a great motivator.”

Emma spoke aloud. “Colors of pastel, purple, pink, yellow and white. No matter your mood, they’re sure to be a delight.” It was a little on the vague side, but after a bit of looking around, Michael got it, waving at his mom and dad and running over to the flowers.

From the flowers, they ran to the slide and then to a tree nearby, and eventually to an enormous rock that was lying just outside of the fence. “How many more?” Diana asked, yelling across the expansive yard.

“Two!” Luke screamed back. “You’re almost there. But you have to hurry or I’m going to eat all of the candy!”

“No!!!!!” They all screamed, reading the penultimate clue as fast as they possibly could. “When a bunny wants a nibble, he may have to ask your pardon. But everything is so delicious growing in your…”

“Ah!” Michael screamed, his desperation for candy clouding his mind. “What is it? What is it? I need candy!”

JJ snorted, leaning her head back into Will’s chest, as Emma and Noah’s parents were talking in the background. “You do not need candy!”

“I don’t care, I want it!”

Emma screamed, pointing towards the side of the house where Spencer and Luke had a small garden. Right now, they were attempting to help Diana grow strawberries. “It’s the garden!”

“Okay,” Diana said, “Last one. Emma, you read.”

“Looking for Peter or Pooh? How about that recipe for cake? Find them here and let your imagination awake.” All of the clues had been outside, but Diana immediately had a thought, turning around and running to her fathers for the house key.

As she ran to the front door, her friends followed as she screamed, “The candy is on the bookshelf!”

“Bring it out here when you find it!” Luke called.

Less than two minutes later, all five children emerged with a ton of candy in hand. “Woah, Spence,” JJ laughed. “Went a little overboard?” Each kid was holding a handful - more than enough for twice the amount of children that were there.

“I wanted to make sure they all got enough, and I didn’t know what kind Emma, Noah, and Monique liked, so I figured I’d just buy everything and then you guys can all figure out how much you want them to eat,” he laughed, turning around to face the kids parents.

“They had a lot of fun,” Emma’s mom said. “Thanks.”

Luke had pulled out a picnic blanket for the kids to sit on as they ate and talked. Thankfully, they were still at an age where they didn’t mind talking about anything in front of their parents. All of them were convinced that a couple of years from now their kids would be slamming the doors in their faces and insisting on privacy.

Diana placed all of the glow-in-the-dark around them, using them as the only light nearby. After divvying up all of the candy, each of them had a chocolate bunny, a reese’s egg, two Cadbury creme eggs, a couple of random chocolate eggs with random fillings and a small bag of Cadbury mini eggs. “What can I eat now?” Diana, Michael, Emma, Noah and Monique all ran to their respective parents asking what they could eat now. 

“Reese’s egg,” Luke said, knowing that she’d want to eat that first. “And one other thing.”

“But not the bunny!” Spencer said. “That’s too big.” Diana scrunched up her mouth in much the same was as Spencer did when he was introduced to someone and gave a little wave. She was definitely going to ask for the bunny. 

“You want my Reese’s egg,” Michael said, holding it out for Diana. “I like the caramel eggs.”

“Cool, we’ll switch! I’ll have both my reese’s eggs now.” After eating their candy, Emma, Monique and Noah left along with their mountain of candy, but Michael stayed behind as Spencer, Luke, JJ and Will carried on their conversation. 

By the time they finished talking, it was nearly 10 o’clock at night. “Oh my god,” Luke said, pointing towards the tree across the yard where the kids had gone to play before. When the other three looked over, their hearts melted. Michael was snoring up against the tree, and Diana was fast asleep on his shoulder. “We have good kids.”


	27. What The Future Holds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana has a book report project due, so she, Luke and Spencer go out to the store to get supplies. On the way home, they all have a discussion about how she wants to go about her education in the immediate future.

“So,” Spencer said as Diana walked in the house after a long day at school, “Did you decide what book you want to do for your project and did you make sure the one you picked was okay with your teacher?” The deadline for what book they were going to use and how they were going to go about doing this project was the next day. 

Diana had been thinking about it all week long and had finally settled on a book. “All The Light We Cannot See,” she said happily. “And I already checked. She said that book is above fifth grade, but that I can do that one if I want because I don’t want to do any of the fifth grade books. I asked if I could make a ten-page scrapbook with items from the story that are important to the main characters and to the storyline. She said that sounded like a really good idea, so can we go to the store and buy some stuff soon?”

Luke had just texted that he was on his way home. “As soon as Dad gets home,” he said. “And then we can go pick up paper and stickers and stuff.” 

While Diana unpacked and started on her math homework, eighth grade geometry, Spencer wondered how much longer his little girl was going to be in grade school. Technically, she could leave next year - start high school at 10.5, but she was so young still, and high school was hard enough even for kids of that age, so he wasn’t sure what was right for her. The three of them would have to discuss it when Luke got home. “Hey, babe,” Luke said, walking straight into the kitchen to kiss his husband hello before turning toward Diana. “Hey, sweets. Did you figure out what you want to do for your book report?”

“Yes!” she said excitedly. She proceeded to tell him all about what she wanted to do. “Daddy said we could go to the store to pick out some things when you got home.”

Minutes later, after Luke dropped his bag on the ground and switched into some more comfortable jeans, the happy family piled into the car and drove to the craft store. “What are you gonna do for the first couple of pages?” Luke asked, watching both his daughter and his husband’s faces as they walked through the aisles grabbing stickers and paper. 

“I’m going to get blue, red and white paper for the French characters, Marie-Laure LeBlanc and her father, Daniel,” she started in a slight French accent that she was starting to perfect after becoming fluent in Spanish. “And then when I describe the German boy, Werner Pfennig, I’ll use black, red and yellow paper. So I’ll use flags for the backgrounds of those pages. Then I want to find puzzle piece stickers to put on Marie’s page because her father makes her intricate puzzles so she can learn things through touch, because she was blind by the age of 6 because of her deteriorating eyesight.” Luke listened in enraptured by his daughter’s big brain, that so reminded him of his husband and how he still was to this day - always learning. “Oh, and can I get this radio sticker for Werner’s page?” It was an expensive sticker, but she was so excited about this project, they couldn’t bear to tell her no.

After nodding, he asked, “Then what are you going to do for the next couple of pages?” He knew the book by heart, but had only read it because Diana had picked it up the year before and loved it so much that he decided to read it too. 

“Then,” she said happily, spinning around and walking backwards as she spoke, “then I’m going to talk about the WWII, and the fighting that went on between the French and the Germans. That will be the next couple of pages. And then I’ll talk all about the blue stones. There were four of them, Dad. Except one was real and worth a lot of money, but the others were fakes. Four people were entrusted to take care of them, so that they didn’t fall into the hands of the Germans, but none of the four knew which one was the real one. Marie’s dad, Daniel, was one of the four.” 

She kept talking, randomly grabbing stickers and paper as Luke listened intently, at one point, turning to his husband and saying, “I haven’t read this book, but it sounds really good.”

“You should read it,” he said, reaching up toward a set of stickers that Diana still couldn’t reach. “It’s actually great.”

“After that, I’ll talk all about how Marie’s father was taken away and why, and all about the Nazi gemologist, Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel, and what his role in the whole story was. I don’t actually want to tell you, Dad, because you need to read it. I love it.” As Spencer and Luke looked into the basket, they could tell that this was going to be an expensive little project, but whatever, she was happy and they could afford it.

With Diana’s description, Luke actually did find himself wanting to read it. She spoke about the characters and the setting in such vivid detail, painting a picture before his eyes. She finished up grabbing what she needed and they started to go check out their items. “Should we start talking with her about what she wants to do school-wise?” Luke whispered to his husband and Diana unloaded the items on the checkout counter. 

“Probably,” he said. “I know what I think, but I want to see if she feels the same way.” They were on the same page; Luke already knew it. Spencer had gone to high school and college at such a young age that he lost out on a lot of being a kid. They didn’t want that for her. They agreed with Kailanni’s husband, Terrance. She would probably do best getting special work in her grade school and middle school until she naturally advanced into the first year of high school. After one year there, if she wanted, she could go to college.

A whopping $125 dollars later, the family walked out and back into the car to head home. “Hey babygirl,” Luke said as Diana rifled through her stash of stickers. “Daddy and I want to talk to you about school. High school and college and stuff.”

“Okay,” she said. “What about it?”

They explained the situation to her. Spencer told her everything - and he meant everything - that had happened to him going to high school and college at a young age. Of course they told her that it might not be the same for her, but it could be, and she could lose out on certain aspects of childhood by jumping ahead so soon. “So what do you think?”

“Hmmm…well I can get my teachers up until 8th grade to give me different work, right?” she asked. She didn’t want to be bored and if she had to do work from her grade she’d lose her mind. “And I could go to college after the first year of high school? That way I could make some friends first?”

“Yup,” Luke said.

“Then I think I want to do that,” she said with a contented sigh. “I don’t want to grow up too fast.”

“Smart choice, baby,” Spencer said, an immediate weight lifted off his shoulders. With that out of the way, thy turned the radio on, only for this horrible new tween band, Soundboard City, pop on. 

Diana gasped, her ears perking up and listening intently. She watched as her Dad went to turn the station to something else. “No! Can you keep this on? I love this song.”

Oh no. Both men glanced at each other in silence. They were at the boy band stage.


	28. Goal!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Spencer accompany their daughter to her first soccer game and try not to embarrass their center forward too much.

They were ready to go. Blue t-shirts to match her jersey, jeans, and ready to scream. “Ready to play, babygirl?” Luke asked as he opened the car door for his daughter. “Ready to kick butt?”

“Daaaad,” she whined. “You and Daddy are going to embarrass me, aren’t you?” This was her first soccer game of the season and she’d just joined the team. She was a little on the young side to join, but she was as tall as most of the other girls, and exceptionally quick on her feet, so they made an exception. She’d been very excited to make the team, but from the moment she was accepted, Luke and Spencer had been slightly overenthusiastic. “Please don’t yell too loudly.” She whispered as they approached the field. Her teammates Aiyana, Riley, Katrina, Xiomara, Sophie, Julissa and Jordan were nearby - and they were the epitome of cool, according to her at least. Before running towards her teammates, she turned to them. “I love you both, but I’m not going to hug you, okay?”

“It’s okay, sweetie. We get it,” Spencer said. “And we’ll try not to scream too loudly. But we are proud of you.” 

She said she loved them again before she turned around, the back of her jersey reading her number, 9, and her last name, Alvez-Reid. The two fathers turned around to find a seat in the small stadium nearby and Spencer caught his husband’s eye. “You okay?”

Luke’s eyes were watery. “Yea,” he laughed. “She’s just so big already.”

“I know,” he said, stepping up onto the bleachers and taking a seat. “It’s insane. And apparently she takes after your athletic ability.” Despite being the youngest on the team, she was their center forward. “Okay, what does a center forward do again?” He really was hopeless when it came to sports; he had to rely on Luke for help with that.

As the game started, all of the parents started clapping, and he and Spencer, along with who he believed were Xiomara’s parents, started hollering. They’d both quickly decided to only holler when other parents were doing it, that way Diana wouldn’t be alone in her slight embarrassment. “Okay, so center forwards normally score the majority of the goals for the team,” Luke started. “She’ll also be attempting to win long balls and receive passes.”

“What the fuck is a long ball?” Spencer breathed quietly, eyes darting wildly around the field. “Is that just trying to get the ball a long way down the field?” It was in that moment that he realized just how dumb he sounded when he wasn’t an “expert” in something. 

Basically yes, Luke nodded. “And everyone has things they’re not good at, even you.” Spencer huffed - he hated not knowing things. “Center forwards try and keep the ball in possession of the team while the other players advance on the field. She’s really good on her feet - agile, so that’s why she got that position. And she’s very much like me, so she’s aggressive on the field.”

Spencer definitely knew about that first hand. Granted it wasn’t the soccer field, but out in the field, Luke very much knew how to handle himself, tackling unsubs with power and speed. All of a sudden, there was a scream from their side of the bleachers. Julissa had kicked the ball to Diana, who was shuffling the ball around by her feet and looking for someone to pass it to. “Xiomara is open, right?” Spencer asked excitedly, placing his hand on his husband’s knee. 

“Yea, she is,” he said. “Come on, baby, pass it.” Just as the words left his lips, Diana kicked the ball to Xiomara who immediately kicked it to the corner of the goal. “Whoooo!!!!” He and Spencer rose from the bleachers, as did most of the other parents.

The rest of the first half went off without another goal from other team, so it was 1-0. In the top of the second half, the opposing team scored and goal. “Look at her,” Spencer said, staring at his daughter in awe. “She’s even more determined now. She doesn’t like losing…like you.”

“Like me?” Luke asked in disbelief. “From the man who pouts when someone tells him he’s wrong.” His husband just brushed that off; Spencer wasn’t wrong all that often, so he decided not to think about it. “Go, go, go, go!” He was chanting as one of Diana’s teammates ran down the field with the ball with just one minute left in the second half. 

“Diana’s open!” Spencer practically screamed. Aiyana’s father stood up and screamed to pass the ball to Diana and within seconds it was flying through the air. Wide open, Diana jumped up and hit the ball off her chest. As soon as it hit the ground, she reeled back and kicked it to the opposing corner the last goal was made. “YES!” Score. His baby made a goal. Spencer barely had any idea what was going on, but he was so proud. 

Luke jumped up onto the bleachers and screamed wildly. There was no way the other team was going to tie the game with barely 30 seconds left in the game. And just like that, the game was won. Excited parents watched as the teams congratulated each other and walked off the field, desperate for Gatorade and water. “We should wait for her to come to us,” Spencer said, grabbing Luke’s leg and pushing him back toward the seat. “We’re embarrassing now, remember?”

“Right,” he replied. Luke watched as Diana gave her teammates hugs and high fives before returning to the bleachers. “Can we hug you?”

She nodded. “Now you can…but not for too long.” Both of them gave her a quick hug. 

“You did great, baby.” Spencer released her from his hug. “We weren’t too embarrassing, were we?”

Diana shrugged a bit. “I mean, a little bit. But everyone else’s parents were embarrassing too, so it wasn’t too bad. Is there any chance I can go out to eat with Sophie and Julissa? Sophie’s mom said she’d drop us off at home afterwards.” Their daughter clasped her hands in front of her face, begging without words to go out with her friends. This was one of the first times she’d asked to go somewhere without them. 

“Sure, baby,” Luke said. “Daddy and I just have to talk to Sophie’s parents and then you can go.”

“Yes!” She turned around and hopped over the bleachers and back toward her friends.

After taking a few minutes to introduce themselves to Sophie’s parents, Luke and Spencer watched while Diana and her friends piled into Sophie’s mom’s van and drove off. “That was hard,” Luke said. 

“She’s a big girl now,” Spencer said. “Hopefully, we’ve raised her well enough that she doesn’t completely turn away from us. But now, friends are cooler than we are.”


	29. Double Digits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana has a big sleepover with nine other girls for her 10th birthday. During a game of truth or dare, Diana starts to learn the trials and tribulations of growing up. But Daddies Spencer and Luke will always be there.

“Are we going to survive this?” Luke asked. In front of he and his husband, were ten 10-year-old girls - Aiyana, Riley, Katrina, Xiomara, Sophie, Julissa, Jordan, best friends Emma and Monique, and their now 10-year-old daughter Diana. 

The entirety of the living room floor was lined with sleeping bags and pillows and piled in the corner of the room were board games, movies, nail polish and blankets, just in case the sleeping bags weren’t warm enough. “What have we done,” Spencer whispered in disbelief. Never in their lives did they feel more out of their element. They just hoped they had bought enough food and had enough for them to do to keep 10 tweens occupied for the night. 

But before they went anywhere, they’d promised Diana an ice cream bar. They had chocolate, vanilla, mint chocolate chip, and peanut butter cup ice cream, as well as whipped cream, sprinkles, cherries, hot fudge, and various candies as toppings. When the two men turned around to make sure they had everything set up on the counter before alerting the girls, they laughed. “We may have gone a little bit overboard on the ice cream, babe,” Spencer said.

“Whatever,” he laughed. “With any luck, there’ll be a bunch of peanut butter cup ice cream left and I’ll eat it. Okay, girls.” Everyone immediately quieted. Apparently, they had all been waiting patiently for more food. Growing kids ate a lot. “Ice cream and fixings are all ready. Line up one by one and we’ll help you.”

Diana ran in front of all her friends. “Me first! It’s my birthday!” She, of course, wanted peanut butter cup ice cream, with whipped cream and hot fudge. She was very much her dad’s daughter. Most of the other girls went with something more plain, but after about 20 minutes of scooping and sprinkling and spraying whipped cream, Luke and Spencer were cleaning up and making sure everyone was locked in for the night. 

“Alright,” Spencer said, “Remember, don’t open the door for anyone and come get us if you need us, okay?” 

A chorus of okays came from around the room until they landed on Diana. “Okay. Night, Dad. Night, Daddy.” 

As the exhausted fathers made their way into their bedroom, the heard the girls start talking - something about truth or dare came up. They thought it was a bad idea, but they weren’t about to embarrass Diana either. They’d raised her right. “That’s gonna lead to some bad things,” Spencer said when he closed the door.

“How bad a dare could they possibly get into?” Luke shrugged.

Spencer pulled the blanket back on their bed. “I’m not taking about dares. I’m not worried about that. But the only one the same age is Emma. The rest are all older. When it comes to ‘truth,’ she might not be on the same plane as the other girls.” Their baby girl was more mature in most ways, but when it came to the social milestones, 12-year-olds were frequently ahead of 10-year-olds.

“We’ll just have to feel it out in the morning, I guess.” Luke pulled the blanket up over him and pulled Spencer toward him. “They’re loud,” he chuckled.

“Oh yea.”

Nearly an hour later, neither of them could sleep. “I keep hearing things,” Luke said.

“Me too,” Spencer breathed. “I think we’re gonna have a problem with Sophie.” Periodically, he’d heard Sophie poking fun at Diana. Apparently, Sophie had already had her first kiss and Diana admitted that she hadn’t. Sophie started laughing, and a couple other girls joined (he wasn’t sure who). The rest said nothing - except Emma, who’d proudly said she hadn’t either because she was only 10. “Emma’s good though,” he laughed. “She told Sophie to shut up.”

“She’s a friend for life,” Luke said happily. At the very least, their daughter would always have one friend at her back. “I think they might be going off truth or dare now. It sounds like a movie is going on - an oldie even for us. Downright vintage for them.”

Spencer tried to listen in, but he couldn’t quite place what movie the girls had just started. When he looked over to Luke in confusion, he told him. “Miss Congeniality.”

“You can tell Miss Congeniality through the wall?” Spencer asked with a smile. 

Luke blushed. “What? Sandra Bullock is gorgeous.”

That was true, but Spencer still couldn’t help but laugh. With the movie on, the girls settled down. Finally, it was quiet enough for them to sleep. “Night, Luke,” Spencer said, grabbing his husband’s hand.

“Night, babe,” he replied. “Love you.”

—–

The next morning, Luke and Spencer were woken up at around 7:30 by the sound of the girls talking outside, so they got up and made breakfast while waiting for the girls’ parents to pick them up. Once everyone was gone, they turned to their little girl. “How was last night?” Luke asked. “Did you have fun?”

She nodded her head vigorously, but behind her eyes they could tell that the early part of the night had bothered her. “It was awesome. Thank you for letting everyone stay over.”

“No problem, sweetheart,” Spencer said, hesitating before feeling out the situation. “Did something happen last night? You seem a little sad.”

Her lip started to quiver a bit, but she bit her tongue. “It’s nothing that bad. Sophie just made fun of me because I haven’t had my first kiss yet.” He knew that bothered her.

Leaning down, he gave her a hug and took her face in his hands. “You are only 10 years old. It is completely okay for you to not have had your first kiss yet. You could be 20 years old and it would still be okay. You could be 30 and it would still be okay. Don’t let anyone pressure you okay?”

“I don’t even want to kiss anybody yet,” she said. Both he and Luke heaved a silent sigh of relief. They weren’t ready for boyfriends and/or girlfriends just yet. Noah was one thing; that was a kiddie crush. But real life love interests? She was still too young for that. “But Sophie already kissed a boy.”

That was all well and good for Sophie, as long as Diana didn’t feel pressured to grow up before her time. “That’s fine for her,” Luke said, crouching down at his husband’s side. “But don’t do anything you don’t want to do. No matter the pressure.”

“Yea.” She nodded. “Is this the kind of stuff you were telling me about? When we talked about school and growing up?”

Spencer sighed. “Yea, baby. Kids are frequently told they need to grow up before they’re ready. You are so smart and so mature, but that doesn’t mean you need to grow up too fast. Whatever happens, please don’t be afraid to talk to Dad and I. Okay?”

With a deep breath, she wrapped her arms around both of them. “I won’t. I love you.”

“We love you, too, baby,” Luke said. “You still want to do a birthday dinner just the three of us tonight?”

“Yes!” she said happily. “But can we watch Harry Potter first?”

Spencer was always up for Harry Potter, and Luke had come to love it after hearing his husband talk about it so much. “Obviously,” Spencer said with a smile. 

As if nothing had happened last night and their conversation had just vanished into thin air, Diana turned around and skipped to her room, returning with Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, and Thumper. No matter how big she got, she’d always be their baby girl.


	30. Growing Up is Overrated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and her dads head to the mall because she needs her first sports bra. The trip brings on talk of puberty and self-esteem.

“Ugh,” Diana groaned in the back of the car. “I don’t wanna do this.” 

“I don’t blame you,” Luke said, turning around and laughing at the fake temper tantrum his daughter was throwing. “But it’s all part of growing up.”

“Growing up is stupid!” she cried. She threw her hands up in the air and then crossed them over her chest and pouted, eliciting a laugh from her Daddy at the wheel of the car.

Spencer agreed. Growing up was dumb. But it happened to everyone whether they liked it or not. “I know, honey,” he said. “But at least you don’t have to wear anything more than a sports bra right now. From what I hear, women’s bras are very uncomfortable.”

“Can I just where a sports bra forever?” she asked. They were on their way to the local mall because Diana had started growing up, so she needed a sports bra, especially for soccer.

“Well, that will be up to you as you get older,” Luke laughed. “Ready?” As they pulled into the mall, Diana whined again. She wasn’t a fan of shopping, another thing Sophie liked to make fun of her for. But Diana, like her fathers, knew what she liked to wear immediately and just wanted to buy it and leave, so having to shop around for a bra was not something she felt like doing.

Once inside the mall, they headed toward the big department store and into the ladies section. “Oh my god,” Diana said, turning around and facing the plethora of racks in front of her. “There are so many. Where do I even start?”

“Well, considering Dad and I don’t wear bras we’re not really sure either,” Spencer laughed, taking a tentative step toward one of the racks. Luke walked up to another one and grabbed about five bras, having no idea which ones would actually work. Spencer tried to be a little more discerning, but after a few minutes, he did the same as his husband. 

Diana picked out a couple of her own - she actually looked pretty shaky. “You okay, sweetheart?” Spencer asked.

“I don’t want to grow up,” she said sadly. “It’s scary.”

Luke walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her still tiny frame. He couldn’t imagine how she felt right now, and he wished there was something more he could do. “It is, but you’re not alone. Whenever you need to talk about things that are bothering you, all you have to do is let us know. Should we have the puberty talk?”

“Ugh,” she said for the second time that day. “I mean, I know what happens. I read a lot like Daddy does.”

If it were only as simple as it was in a textbook. “Yea, but when it happens to you, it’s very different,” Spencer replied, walking with his husband and daughter toward the dressing room. “You grow hair in places you don’t want. Girls have periods-”

“I don’t want that.” She interrupted. “I could deal without that forever.” She already knew what was in store and she was not looking forward to it. 

Luke laughed, handing her the pile or bras as she walked into the dressing room alone. “Whenever you get it, you can either talk to us, or you can talk to any of your Aunts. We want you to feel comfortable talking about that stuff with us, but if you’re not, you having plenty of aunts who’ll have no problem helping you out.”

“I know,” she said. “I just don’t want a period and I don’t boobs. But I kind of do because all of my older friends have boobs. They make fun of me because I don’t have real boobs yet. I mean, I like me, I think I’m pretty cool and nice, but apparently having boobs is supposed to be a good thing. According to my friends.”

Spencer was practically seething outside; he knew who they was, and it wasn’t they, it was Sophie. He wanted to tell Diana that Sophie sucked ass and if she didn’t stop making fun of his daughter, he was going to march to her parents’ home and give them a piece of his mind, but he held himself back, instead telling her that Sophie would, because Sophie was older. “When you get older, you’ll have bigger breasts too.”

“But I don’t even want them,” she whined, stomping her feet in the dressing room. “Can I FaceTime Auntie Garcia? I have no idea what these are supposed to look like.”

Luke laughed. They should’ve invited Garcia along on this little outing; she would’ve been a great help and she would’ve thoroughly enjoyed it “Yea, go ahead baby.” Within seconds, they could hear the phone ring inside the dressing room.

“Auntie Garcia?”

“Hello, my favorite niece in the whole wide world,” Garcia said. “What’s up?”

Diana pointed the camera toward the pile of bras and explained her dilemma. “And I’m your only niece in the whole wide world.”

“Still my favorite, lovebug,” she laughed. “Let me see the one you have on.” Diana was wearing a plain black one that couldn’t be seen though her shirt. She’d already checked. “Is it comfortable? Is anything pinching?”

“No,” Diana replied. “It doesn’t look loose does it?”

“Not at all, sweetpea. Do they have other colors?”

“Yea, they have blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, purple and white.” She wasn’t really a fan of pink or purple, but everything else was fine. 

If Garcia were there, she’d be drowning in the pink and purple ones, or the adult equivalent because Garcia’s chest could not possibly be contained by a sports bra. “Then I would have Daddy and Dad buy you every color you like, because if you have to wear the things, at least you can have all different colors.”

“Thanks, Auntie Garcia,” she said. “I love you to the moon and back.”

“I love you this much,” she said, stretching her arm out wide. She blew a kiss into the phone before they both disconnected and Diana emerged from the dressing room with the bra in hand. 

“Well, you heard Auntie Garcia,” she laughed. “Can I at least get all the colors I like?”

They returned to the rack where they’d found the first one and grabbed a white, blue, green, yellow and orange one to go along with the black. She also grabbed a new pack of underwear and asked if they’d buy her some crazy socks, because like her Daddy, she was a very big fan of weird socks. “Can we go to CVS or something too?” she asked. 

“What do you need over there?” Luke asked.

Diana looked a little embarrassed, but she looked between her dads and said she should probably wear deodorant because she was getting older and was involved in soccer. “This puberty thing sucks,” she sighed. That was the first time they’d heard her say a “curse” since she was a baby and had had an affinity for the word shit - but they figured that given the circumstances, suck would be an okay word for her to use.

“That it does, sweetie,” Luke said. “But you’ll handle it with grace because you’re amazing.”

“Thank you, Dad,” she said, leaning against him while they walked to the checkout counter. After making their purchase, the family headed over to CVS to buy deodorant. When Diana passed the aisle with pads and tampons, she decided she wanted to take a look for when she’d actually need them. 

“Oh my god,” she said.

“What is it?” Spencer asked. alarmed by the look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Why? Are? There? So? Many?”

Even for a smart little girl like their daughter, this puberty thing was really confusing.


	31. Role Reversal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Spencer are sick with the flu, so Diana decides to do the house chores so they don't have to when they wake up from their nap.

“I haven’t been sick in more than a decade,” Spencer mumbled, his eyes heavy with sleep. Luke had barely heard him however, because he was too busy throwing up in the bathroom just out of earshot. 

“What was that?” Luke asked. There was a reprieve from the constant sickness…finally. 

Spencer pushed off the bed, every muscle in his body aching. What happened to the days when they could go to work even if they were sick? That’s how they both knew they were taking part in that wonderful process called aging. “I haven’t been sick in more than a decade,” he repeated, “Why now?”

“I don’t know,” Luke mumbled, hanging his head in his hands. His head felt so heavy, he couldn’t even keep it up. “But considering you’re the least sick of the two of us, you should probably go check on Diana.”

“Yea,” he said, standing up and wrapping the blanket around himself until he resembled a burrito. “I’ll go do that now.”

When he went outside, Diana was sitting on the couch watching a movie with a sandwich in hand. “You already got lunch?” he asked. 

“You look like a burrito, Daddy,” she laughed. “And yea, you and Dad are sick, so I can take care of myself. Basically. Why don’t you go get some sleep? Dad too.”

If he wasn’t sick, he would’ve bent down to give her a giant hug and kiss, but he didn’t want to get her sick again; she’d already gotten over the flu herself. “I think we’re both going to do that. We’ll nap for a couple of hours, but if you need anything, anything at all that you can’t take care of, wake one of us up. Probably me, because Dad’s a little sicker than I am right now.”

“Don’t worry, Daddy,” she said proudly. “I’m good. Have a nice nap.”

“I will. Thank you, honey.”

Within ten minutes, Diana heard both of her dads snoring. She’d decided that she was going to clean the whole house so they didn’t have to. “Okay,” she said to herself. “Dishes first.” She pulled a step stool up to the sink because she was still a little too short to do the dishes comfortably. But once she was situated, she doused everything in soap, took the sponge and got to work, scrubbing away and having fun as the bubbles flew up in front of her face. She hated doing dishes, but having the ability to use as much soap (and therefore bubbles) as she wanted made it better.

They didn’t have a dishwasher anymore because theirs kept breaking, so as she dried each dish, cup and utensil, she piled them up on the side of the sink. When she was done, she could put everything away. She looked at the clock and noticed it had taken her nearly 30 minutes to wash everything. “Damn,” she said out loud, quickly stepping off the step stool and running to the hallway to see if her fathers were awake and heard her curse. The loud rumbling of snores told her she was safe. 

Everything was squeaky clean, so she climbed up onto the step stool and then onto the counter to put the dishes and cups away first. “Careful,” she whispered, placing each ceramic dish carefully on top of the other. “Don’t make any noise. Don’t break anything.” It was tougher than she thought to not make noise, but she did it. Proudly, she stepped back from the counter and looked at her good work.

“Now the laundry.” She’d watched her Daddies do laundry so often, she knew how to do it herself by heart, but again, she needed the step stool to grab the detergent. “I’ll do the whites first,” she said to herself. “And plain muted towels.” She threw her white things, including her new sports bra, along with her dads’ white shirts and plain towels into the machine and poured in the detergent she needed. While she waited, she decided to take a break and continue watching her movie, but not before placing Thumper in her Dads’ bedroom right across from the bed. He always made her feel better, so maybe he’d help them too.

After sneaking out of their room, she returned to the couch and nearly fell asleep as she waited for the laundry to be done, but the beeping of the machine alerted her and she switched things over to the dryer before putting another load of wash in. “I’ll straighten the counters too,” she said aloud. The countertops were a mess. There was stuff everywhere. It took almost the entirety of the next load of laundry to straighten everything, but the house looked so clean. She stood back and puffed her chest out; she was very happy with herself - hopefully her dads would be too. 

It was a little more than halfway through their nap, so Diana started folding the laundry and putting away what she could without going back into their room. Any of their clothes would wait until later. She’d leave them on top of the dryer. “Now what?” The second and final load of laundry was in the dryer, and everything else was done. “Oh!”

She ran to the kitchen, pulling out a can opener and two of her freshly washed bowls. “Chicken soup.” But after a little bit more of her movie. It was still a little too early for them to wake up. 

By the time the movie was over, it was nearly time for Spencer and Luke to wake up. They couldn’t sleep all day. She put the soup into bowls and heated it up. Reaching down under the sink, she grabbed a tray and put the bowls of soup on top, along with a box of tissues. “Dad.” She knocked on the door. “Daddy. It’s time to wake up.”

Spencer opened his eyes first. “What’s this?” He smiled.

“I made soup for you and Dad,” she said, rocking back and forth on her feet. “To make you feel better.” Spencer reached over and poked his husband awake. 

“Our amazing baby girl made us soup, babe,” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Luke pushed up off the bed and smiled at his daughter. “Thank you, baby. You did all this by yourself?”

“Yup! And I did the dishes, and I cleaned the counter tops, and I did the laundry too.” She ran out of the room and brought back the pile of clothes she decided to leave on top of the dryer earlier. 

They were both stunned. It wasn’t as if they never asked her to do chores. They did - not wanting her to get spoiled, but she wasn’t a fan of dishes, so for her to do them willingly and without being asked was amazing. “Thank you so much, sweetheart,” Luke said, smiling proudly at his baby girl. “You are the best daughter any two dads could ask for.”

Spencer looked across the room and noticed Thumper. “You left him in here?” he said surprised. She kept him by her side most times she was home. 

“I thought he would make you feel better because he makes me feel better.” She blushed. 

“Do you know how cute you are?” Spencer asked. When they brought her home, he knew he would love her until the end of time. But each and every day, he and Luke fell more in love with everything their little girl was growing up to be.


	32. Fangirl Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Spencer manage to get Diana, and her friend Emma, tickets to their favorite and the world's current most popular band.

They couldn’t wait to see the look on her face, but they were also dreading having to listen to two hours of Soundboard City music. It wasn’t as if pop bands didn’t have their time and place and audience, but it wasn’t for them. Diana however, was obsessed, specifically with the lead singer Jeremiah Vera, whose poster was now affixed to the back of her bedroom door.

An African-American boy from Detroit, Jeremiah was the heartthrob to end all heartthrobs, and Diana had a crush. Bad. She knew the tickets were expensive and she would undoubtedly never get the chance to go see them, but Spencer and Luke had managed to grab four tickets, one for each of the three of them, and one for Emma, Diana’s best friend. They wanted for her to have someone to fangirl with.

“Ready to go tell her?” Spencer asked. “She’s gonna scream.”

As they walked into Diana’s room, they laughed, finding her listening to the new Soundboard City album. “Hey, babygirl,” Luke said. “We have a surprise for you.”

She took her headphones out and looked up at them. “What is it?”

From behind their backs, they held out tickets. “Want to go see Soundboard City? Want to take Emma with us?”

“No. Way.” Diana’s eyes went wide. She looked like she wanted to cry.

Spencer teased her a bit. He couldn’t help himself. “I mean, if you don’t want to go, Dad and I can give the tickets to someone else.” Slowly, they turned away, but she screamed and ran in front of them. 

“I know you’re joking, but that’s not funny. How did you get tickets?” She took them out of their hands, looking at them as if they were bars of gold. 

It had taken them eagle eyeing ticket websites daily since the tour dates were released, but they found them. “It’s next week. You wanna tell Emma? We’ll tell her parents.”

“Yes!” She leapt up off the ground and wrapped her arms around both of their necks, thanking them profusely for the surprise.

Her smile was so worth it, but listening to that crap was going to drive them insane. Good thing she was worth it.

—–

“We’re going to have splitting migraines by the time we get out of here,” Luke said. Every kid in the stadium was going batshit insane and the music was ridiculously loud - he knew he was old now. If it wasn’t for the look on Diana’s face, he’d happily be back at home with a book in bed next to Spencer. But Diana was having a blast, completely ignoring he and Spencer and fangirling with Emma, just as they’d planned.

“Jeremiah, we love you!” They screamed. There was a mass of people - more specifically, kids jumping up and down on their seats, and parents, desperately trying to lose themselves in their phones. “Sorry, Dad, Daddy.”

“Why are you sorry, baby?” Spencer asked with a smile.

Diana could tell they were bored. “Because you’re bored.”

“Oh, honey,” he said, his voice being nearly drowned out by all the screaming. “It’s okay. Sometimes we do things we don’t like because we love somebody. You having fun? You too, Emma?”

“Yes!”

“Then that’s all that matters,” Luke replied. “Have fun. Fangirl away.” Only recently had they introduced her to the term - she’d adopted it easily and with extreme vigor. Like her Daddy, she tended to fangirl over everything for a period of time.

Nearly an hour later, the show was finally (for Spencer and Luke) and sadly (for Diana, Emma and nearly 10,000 other kids) over. “You girls have fun?” Luke asked as they stood up from their seats. They’d waited quite a while for the stadium to empty out some, not wanting to fight the crowd. 

“So much!” Emma cried. “Thank you for inviting me.” She clasped on to Diana’s arm and practically sobbed. That was, until she saw Jeremiah Vera out of the corner of her eye. “Oh my god, there he is.”

“Hello girls,” Jeremiah said as he made eye contact with Spencer, who’d silently begged for him to walk over. “Did you have fun at the concert?”

“Yes,” Diana whispered. “Could we get a picture and an autograph?”

Graciously, Jeremiah and one of the other band members, Hunter Lewis, took pictures and signed autographs for Diana and Emma. Neither of them said a word as they walked out of the stadium. But once they got to the car. “Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!” They jumped and down, stomping their feet as they screeched. Spencer was pretty sure his ears were bleeding, but he was also pretty sure they’d never seen her that happy before. If he was deaf, it was so worth it.


	33. True Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana gets bullied by a "friend." Luke and Spencer are right there telling her how to deal with the situation.

Catching them off guard, the door flew open and Diana ran in, tears streaming down her face. She hadn’t even closed the door before flinging herself onto the couch. Spencer had a feeling he knew what was wrong.

In stunned silence, Luke went to close the door while Spencer sat at their daughter’s side and put his hand on her back. “What happened, baby? What’s wrong? Talk to us.”

Her body was wracked with sobs as she picked her head up off the couch, saying nothing but that one word. “Sophie.” She collapsed back into the couch as Spencer looked back toward his husband, his eyes raging with fire. He knew that girl was going to be a problem. It wasn’t fair. He’d been through this as a child, and it had hurt then. Watching his baby girl go through it now? It ripped his heart out. “Sophie embarrassed me in front of my entire class!” 

Luke sat down at Spencer’s side, taking in the pained look on his face. He could tell it was hell for Spencer to watch their daughter in such pain, but it probably brought back a lot of bad memories for him as well. Anything that could’ve happened to a kid, happened to him. “What did she do?” Luke asked.

“Take your time,” Spencer continued, consoling her after a sob got in the way of her speaking.

With a shaky voice that was about all she could muster, she started recounting the horrible tale. ‘We were in gym class…”

Oh no, Spencer thought to himself. He knew exactly where this was going. In much the same direction it did when he was her age. The thought of that girl making his daughter cry made him rage inside. Diana had been nothing but sweet to her and everyone else she’d ever come across. She didn’t deserve this.

“Everything was okay until we had to go get changed from our regular clothes into our gym clothes. I went in and got out my clothes and took off my other clothes, and when I had my back turned, Sophie and two others took both sets of clothes and ran outside with them.” Steaming hot tears came rolling down her face as she continued to tell them about how she had to exit the locker room in nothing but her sports bra and underwear causing the rest of her classmates to laugh at her. “And then Emma got in trouble because she ran up and punched Sophie in the nose.”

Despite the conversation, Luke and Spencer couldn’t help but smile. They always knew they’d liked Emma. “She ran up to cover me with her sweatshirt, but it was too late. Everyone was already laughing.” Luke pulled her into his lap and hugged her tightly, rocking her back and forth.

“We are so sorry she did that to you,” he said softly, combing her hair back as he spoke. He made a point of placing the blame on Sophie. “You realize that she’s not your friend, right? A friend wouldn’t do that to you.”

She nodded, her lip quivering as her head fell into Luke’s chest. “What am I supposed to do about school tomorrow? Everyone’s going to laugh at me.” The realization brought it all flooding back to her and she started sobbing all over again.

Spencer realized that what he was about to say was much easier said than done, but with the exception of a few other things he and Luke were going to do, he didn’t know what else to do but be there for her. “Have you ever heard the phrase, fake it until you make it?” he asked.

Slowly, she shook her head. “What does that mean?”

“Well,” he started. “It means you act confident until you are confident.” The only thing that kept rolling through his mind was that she had friends, which was more than he’d had at her age. “You go into school tomorrow with your head held high and act like you’re okay. And you ignore Sophie. Because she’s not worth it.”

Luke and Spencer didn’t make a habit out of getting into the gory details of their work with Diana, but she did ask questions and they did tell her what they felt was okay. “It’s a lot like the stalkers Daddy and I sometimes track. Most stalkers lose interest in their target, if their target doesn’t give them any reaction.”

“So Sophie is the stalker and I’m the target?” she asked. Spencer seethed inside knowing that his daughter was a target of anything. Luke nodded and continued. “Yea, if you don’t give Sophie any reaction, she’ll likely lose interest and leave you alone.”

As they continued talking, Spencer got up and went into Diana’s room to give himself enough time to breath. He grabbed Thumper and brought it out to her - immediately, she squeezed him half to death. “What happens if she doesn’t leave me alone?” Diana asked, her eyes filled with fear. “What if she goes from just saying mean things to actually trying to hurt me?”

Spencer hadn’t had any physical strength to defend himself as a child prodigy in Vegas, but even if he had, he’d been told by everyone around him that violence was never the answer - the issue was, sometimes it was. “Listen, baby, if Sophie ever lifts a hand to hurt you, you have every right to defend yourself. It doesn’t matter if you get in trouble with the school, you will not get in trouble from us if you weren’t the one to instigate the fight. Okay? We don’t want you to start fights, but you can lift a hand if someone comes at you first.”

She seemed a little bit more comforted by that - knowing that she didn’t have to just sit back and take whatever happened. “You go in, head held high and keep your true friends, like Emma, close to you. And no matter what happens, tell me and Daddy,” Luke said as he kissed the top of her head. “Daddy and I are probably going to go talk to some people at the school.”

“Will that make it worse?” she asked. Although she wasn’t actively crying anymore, the tears were still drying on her face.

As Spencer’s mind raced, he thought about that possibility. Thing was, he thought it was more likely to do harm if intervention wasn’t consistent. If it was, and all of the parents were involved, then he believed it would work better. If worse came to worst, he and Luke would pull her out of school before anything happened to her. “It shouldn’t,” he said truthfully. “As long as Sophie’s mom and dad are made aware of what happened.” He’d had bad feelings about Sophie almost from the very beginning, but her mother seemed nice and would probably be appalled at her daughter’s actions. “We’re going to talk to her, the gym teacher, and the principal.”

“Okay,” she said, standing up with Thumper still clutched in her arms. “I think I’m going to go in my room now.”

They wanted desperately to make her feel better, but at 11 years old, it was unlikely that she’d be comforted by them. “Do you want to see if Emma can come over for dinner?” Spencer asked, desperate to his daughter smile.

Thankfully, her lips turned upward slightly. “Yea, that would be good. If she can, can we have macaroni and cheese?”

Both Luke and Spencer walked up to her and gave her a hug. “Even if she can’t come over, we can have mac and cheese,” Spencer said. “Go ahead and call her.”

The tears were now gone, but both fathers knew this was most likely just the beginning. Sophie, or someone else, would undoubtedly pick on her from time-to-time, if not constantly. The only thing that made them feel slightly better about the situation was knowing that she had friends on her side, and two loving fathers that would do anything to make sure she was happy and safe. Everything else, they’d have to take as it came.


	34. Precautionary Measures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Diana is humiliated by Sophie, Luke, Spencer and Sophie's mother meet with the principal and the gym teacher to discuss what should happen from here on out.

“We’re going to be having the meeting while the two of you are in class,” Spencer said. “And we’re not going to pull you out of class either.” The last thing they wanted to do was pull Diana out of class in front of the kids that already laughed at her. Apparently, the gym teacher had been witness to most of what happened. The kids didn’t need to be there.

Later that day, Spencer and Luke made their way into the principal’s office to meet with her, the gym teacher, Ms. Elena Hoskovitz, and Sophie’s mother. “Hello,” Spencer said, extending his hand toward the principal as they walked in. When he looked to the side passed Luke, he could see Sophie’s mother look away, almost ashamed. Maybe she already knew what her daughter was like. “It’s nice to meet you. Although we wish it weren’t under these circumstances.”

Luke shook hands with the principal and then the gym teacher, before turning towards Sophie’s mother. His husband could tell the handshake was strained. Granted, she couldn’t control what her daughter did in school, but how could she miss this and not address it at home? “Let’s go over what happened yesterday,” the principal, Mrs. Olivia Inez said. “Mrs. Fausta. How about you go first.” Spencer didn’t like that, especially because he knew why, but he held his tongue. 

Sophie’s mother looked up from where her fingers were fumbling around and told everyone that Sophie told her basically the same story, except that Sophie was Emma. Both fathers could tell by the twitchiness of her fingers and the darting of her eyes that even she didn’t believe what she was saying. “That’s not what happened,” Ms. Hoskovitz said matter-of-factly. It was a good thing she said something because Spencer was about to burst, but considering the “victim” was his daughter, his word would only have gone so far.

The principal made a note of what Ms. Hoskovitz said and then told Spencer and Luke to recount what Diana told them. “From what Diana told us, she went to go get changed for gym, pulled out her clothes, took off her own, and when her back was turned, Sophie and two others that she didn’t name, stole both sets of clothes, causing her to have to walk out in her bra and underwear to laughter from the rest of the class. She also claimed that Emma then got in trouble because she punched Sophie in the nose on her behalf,” Luke said. Subtly, and yet loud enough for everyone to hear, Spencer muttered that Emma should’ve been given a medal rather than a punishment. 

The gym teacher swallowed hard. “I can’t account for what happened in the locker room because I wasn’t in there, but I was witness to the rest of it. I did what I could, but most of it had happened before I had a chance to stop it.” 

Spencer looked over again to see Mrs. Fausta biting her lip. She definitely had some inclination that her daughter was a bully but hadn’t done everything about it. “It’s just kids being kids,” she said under her breath. “Sophie didn’t mean any harm.” She said it so softly, Diana’s fathers wondered if she truly meant what she was saying. 

But Spencer couldn’t hold himself anymore. “Your daughter didn’t mean mine any harm? When she embarrassed her to the point of tears in front of the entire class? It’s not kids being kids. It’s kids not being taught how to act in the home. Or are you teaching your daughter to be a bully at home?” he rambled - the only thing that stopped him was Luke’s firm hand on his wrist. Luke knew he had to be stopped before he exploded; he’d heard this all before.

“I do not teach my daughter to be a bully,” she said defensively. But everyone could tell by her words that she knew someone taught her to be the way she was.

“Mrs. Fausta,” Luke said calmly, gently squeezing Spencer’s hand. “If you remember correctly, my husband and I are profilers with the FBI. From what I can gather, your husband is the one teaching her these ideals. Maybe not outright, but we already know for a fact that he bought your daughter’s way into this school by donation.” It was information that was fairly readily available and when Sophie had first started teasing Diana, Luke and Spencer had asked Penelope to gather any information she could on the family - just in case.

She looked stunned, as did the principal. The gym teacher just raised her eyebrows, seemingly thankful that someone had called out the hypocrisy of it all. Luke continued before the principal could get defensive. “Now don’t worry, I don’t care that you bought her way in here. The school needs money, you took it, that’s fine. What I don’t appreciate is letting that money buy her way out of trouble.”

“What would you like us to do?” the principal asked, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. 

Spencer took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It would be so easy for him to lose his mind, but that wouldn’t get anyone anywhere. “What do we want you to do?” he asked calmly. “Here’s what we want. We want for an immediate punishment for Sophie for what’s already transpired. Then we want precautionary measures taken for the future.” 

Luke squeezed his hand to signal he’d take over. He could feel the heat radiating off his husband. “What we mean by precautionary is this. In gym, Ms. Hoskovitz, we want you in the locker room to make sure it doesn’t get to the point it did yesterday. We want Sophie separated from our daughter at all times. And we want it well documented that if it does go further and your daughter,” he said to Mrs. Fausta, the fire raging in his eyes as he spoke, “raises her hand to ours, we will not punish her for defending herself. If she hurts Sophie and Sophie started things, I will frankly by her ice cream for defending herself.”

The principal looked between Luke and Spencer, and Mrs. Fausta, weighing her options. Spencer could tell she didn’t want to piss off one of the primary donors, but he also didn’t care, so long as his daughter didn’t have to go through the things he went through as a child. “Those seem like reasonable requests,” she finally said. “Mrs. Fausta, Sophie will be suspended for three days.” Then she turned toward Luke and Spencer. “I’ll be speaking to Diana’s teachers. If Sophie is in the same class, they will be seated as far apart as humanly possible. Ms. Hoskovitz will accompany the girls in the locker room for gym.” There was still one piece she was forgetting - and Spencer wanted to make sure they were sufficiently clear.

“And if Sophie starts anything, and our daughter gets in trouble for defending herself, I don’t care who your donors are, I. Will. Raise. Hell.” Luke wasn’t sure he wanted it to get that far. But he couldn’t help but smile at his husband’s love for their daughter. “Do I make myself clear?” he asked.

“Abundantly so,” the principal said, barely looking up from her desk. As everyone stood up, the principal motioned for her secretary to go and grab Sophie from class. “Her suspension starts today. Should we take Diana out of school?” she asked.

“No,” Luke replied. Diana loved school, she just didn’t like the atmosphere. Knowing that Sophie would be gone for a few days would be enough for her. Minutes later, Sophie walked into the room as Luke and Spencer were carrying on a delightful conversation with the gym teacher. 

Sophie cut her eyes at them, but Spencer stared her down, feeling Luke’s hand clench his own. “Everything’s taken care of,” he whispered.

“I know,” Spencer replied. “But striking a little fear into her couldn’t hurt.” Sophie had fucked with the wrong child. 

Luke nodded. “I guess not. Thank you, Ms. Hoskovitz,” he said on the way out. As they left, they could both feel Sophie’s gaze boring into them. This probably wasn’t completely over yet, but at least they’d made themselves clear. There was nothing they wouldn’t do to ensure Diana had a safe place to learn and grow. She wouldn’t be forced to grow up and switch schools before her time if it wasn’t what she wanted.


	35. Can I Give It Back?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana gets her first period, and Dads Spencer and Luke are already prepared to help her through it.

“Dammit,” Diana muttered under her breath.

She and Emma had gone to the bathroom at the same time. Good thing. “What’s wrong?” Emma asked.

“I think I got my period,” she said, staring at the small red stain. Thankfully, it wasn’t too bad, but she did need something to get her through the day. Without missing a beat, Emma’s hand came floating under the stall with a pad and a tampon.

“Take your pick,” she said. Diana reached for the pad. She knew what tampons were. She knew what periods were, but she wasn’t about to use a tampon. Those scared her. Pad it was.

“Emma, have I said how much I love you lately?” Diana asked as the situated herself and walked out of the bathroom stall. 

Emma kissed her cheek. “I’ve got you, babe.”

—-

Later that day, Diana got off the school bus and immediately walked inside, taking a deep breath. “How was school?” Luke asked. Diana dropped her backpack on the ground and stared off into the distance. She knew this day was coming, but she wished it wasn’t so soon. Granted, it was average for girls her age to get their periods, but she didn’t want it and she wanted it to go away now. Forever, preferably. Spencer noticed her lack of talking, which was rare for her, so originally, he thought something had happened with Sophie again.

“No,” Diana said. “I’m safe on that front.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Spencer laughed. She didn’t look sad or miserable; she just looked done. 

She took a deep breath. “I got my period today,” she said. “I don’t want it. I wanna give it back.”

With a grin, Spencer stood up and went over to give her a hug. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But it is natural.”

“I know,” she replied, burying her head in his chest. “But I don’t want it.”

Luke laughed off to the side and came up to hug her too. “We need to go out and grab stuff for you, don’t we?” he asked. “Did you have something to get your through the day?”

“Emma did,” she replied. Emma had gotten hers the year before. “But I need pads.” Thank god for Emma.

As they grabbed their coats and headed out of the house, Luke and Spencer discussed possibly having a deeper talk with her. Puberty, sex, the whole thing. They asked her what she knew about what was happening to her, so she told them. She knew the mechanics of it. Why it happened. They covered it in school already, but she still thought it was a pain in the ass. “I know what sex is too,” she said toward the end. “So you don’t need to explain it to me.”

“Maybe not,” Spencer said. “But we can tell you to be careful. Always use condoms. And please talk to us no matter what.”

Luke turned around and lifted her chin up slightly to meet his gaze. “No matter what happens, we love you, and we’re with you. Okay?”

Diana’s mind wandered to one of the high-schoolers she knew through Monique. She was 16 and pregnant. “Even if I get pregnant?” she asked. “Monique’s sister’s friend got pregnant and her parents threw her out. She’s living with her boyfriend’s parents now.”

“You having sex anytime soon?” Spencer chuckled - that nervous chuckle that he hoped would be met with an “of course not.”

“No, Daddy,” she giggled, watching as he exhaled sharply. “I don’t even know if I like girls or boys or girls and boys. I know I like something. I’m just not sure what.”

Finally, they were at the drug store, and once again, she was stunned by the amount of options there were. Without another look, she got rid of half the aisle because they were tampons and she wasn’t about to use them. “I’m afraid they’ll get stuck,” she laughed. “Emma said they won’t but I’m not so sure.” As she looked at the numerous packages before her, she got confused. “What are wings? Do I want wings? I don’t understand.” For as smart as she was, this whole growing up this was still weird and she hated it.

Luke looked around for what she’d probably need. They had fully prepared for this situation. Considering neither of them were women, they had no idea what women actually used or preferred, but options seemed like a great idea no matter who you were. “You’re probably going to want to get this to start with,” Luke said, holding a variety pack in front of his daughter’s face.

“You have to figure out what’s more comfortable for you,” Spencer said, giving Diana a hug as she stomped her feet in playful frustration. “Wings, no wings, thinner ones, thicker ones. You have to see how your cycle goes and figure it along the way.”

As she threw a fake temper-tantrum, more her fathers’ benefit than her own, she cried out. “But I like facts! I wanna know!”

“And that’s why you definitely are your Daddy’s daughter,” Luke laughed. He was comfortable with not knowing things - Spencer - not so much. “Wanna grab some Midol and a hot water bottle too? Just in case?” She hadn’t complained of cramps yet, but they were ridiculously common.

She walked to the aisle and grabbed what she needed. “Sometimes, I think being a girl sucks.”

Spencer lifted her up into a bear hug. “Sometimes, it does,” he laughed. “But half of the world knows exactly what you’re going through.” 

The cashier rang them up at the front, giving both fathers a warm smile. “My dad wasn’t nearly so open,” she told Diana. “You’re a lucky girl.”

She knew that. She’d always known that. Although Emma’s dad was awesome in a lot of ways, he never had that conversation with Emma, her mom did. Her dads really were great. Non-judgemental. Maybe because it was her first one…. “Hey, Dad, Daddy,” she said as they left the store. They both looked back at her and asked what was wrong. “You think we could get some ice cream. I think I’m really craving ice cream. Chocolate and peanut butter specifically.”

Luke snorted. Twelve years old and still in love with chocolate and peanut butter. That was his baby. “You really are going to milk this whole period thing for all it’s worth, aren’t you?”

“Can you blame me?” she shrugged. “I can’t give it back. I should at least get some ice cream out of it.”


	36. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Troublemaking Sophie physically attacks Diana, and she defends herself. What will happen when both girls wind up in the principal's office?

“Hey!” Someone screamed from across the schoolyard. When Diana looked up from her book, Sophie was running toward her with a group of friends in tow. “You got me in trouble!”

Mentally, Diana had been preparing for this moment since Sophie had started picking on her - the plan even more cemented in her mind after her fathers said they wouldn’t get mad at her for defending herself. She was going to hit her. She could feel it. 

She wanted to defend herself, but she froze - the image of Sophie and three other girls barreling toward her rooting her in place. 

Thwack!

Before she could even blink, she was on the ground, a shooting pain traveling up her jawline and into her head. “Because of you, I got in trouble. All because you couldn’t take a joke!” Again, Diana felt a blow to her side. She’d kicked her in the ribs. “You stupid bitch!”

As Sophie grabbed her by the shirt and backed her into the wall, Diana did her best to push away from her. She didn’t want to hit her; it wasn’t like her, but she would if she had to. She kept trying to get away in vain and was thrown for a loop when Sophie punched her again. Now, other kids had started to gather around as Diana was thrown to the floor. “You and your faggot fathers!” she screamed. 

All bets were off now. Diana popped off the ground and ran into Sophie at lightning speed, knocking her into the wall of the school and then onto the floor in seconds. “Don’t you dare talk about my fathers like that!” she screamed, reeling back and punching Sophie square in the stomach. The bully sputtered and coughed as she clutched her stomach, taken aback by the fact that Diana had dared hit her back. She only landed one blow, hoping that would be enough to stop her, when Sophie lifted her eyes to meet Diana’s gaze. “If you ever say anything like that about my fathers ever again, I’ll hit harder next time!” 

In the heat of the moment, she hadn’t even realized that Emma had returned from the bathroom. She was just in time to pull Diana back from lunging at Sophie again. “She’s not worth it, Di!” she screamed, holding her back by her arms.

“What’s happening over here?” A teacher from two grades up screamed as he approached the group of children crowded around Diana, Sophie and Emma. When he looked at the two girls, he could see Diana had a bloody lip and Sophie was still trying to catch her breath. “Come with me!”

And with that, both girls were led to the principal’s office.

—-

“Hello, this is Dr. Spencer Reid,” he said, picking up the phone without even looking to see who it was. Luke was right nearby and they were just about to head out to lunch with the rest of the team. 

The familiar voice of the principal, Olivia Inez, sounded from the other side. “Hello, Dr. Reid. I’m sorry to bother you right now, but I think it would be best for you and your husband to come to school. There’s been an incident between Diana and Sophie.”

“We’ll be right there,” he replied, his heart lurching into his throat. He’d never hated a child in his life, but dammit, he hated Sophie. He hung up the phone and turned toward Luke. “We have to go. Something’s happened with Diana at school.”

Within 15 minutes, the two worried fathers had sped to Diana’s school and walked into the principal’s office to see Diana with a bloody lip. “Baby, what happened?” Luke asked, bending down to see his daughter more livid than he’d ever seen her. 

Before she had a chance to reply, Mrs. Inez spoke up. “It seems that Sophie and Diana got into a fight during free period.” 

“What happened?” Spencer asked. Obviously, they’d gotten into a fight. What happened was the question.

“We’re not sure,” she replied. “All we know is that both girls suffered injuries and we have a no tolerance policy when it comes to violence.” Her voice wavered as she spoke. 

Spencer stared into the back room behind the principal’s head. One of the reasons they’d decided to send her to this particular school was because they had cameras staked all around the grounds, for the express purpose of cutting down on bullying. “Have you looked at the cameras?” he asked flatly, his lips curling up into a sneer. He could tell when Mrs. Inez looked down at her feet that they hadn’t even bothered. “Look at the cameras,” he insisted. “I guarantee you, Sophie threw the first punch.”

“You do remember what we said last time?” Luke prodded. “That as long as Diana wasn’t the instigator, we had no problem with her defending herself?” The principal swallowed hard and turned to pull up the footage from the schoolyard. “That still stands.”

Seconds later, the tape clearly showed Sophie being the first to throw a punch. “Diana,” Mrs. Inez asked, watching the tape as Diana hopped off the ground and shoved Sophie into the wall, “What happened here?”

“I could tell she was going to try and hit me again,” Diana started, the venom spitting in Sophie’s direction as she spoke. “And then she called my fathers faggots and I lost it. That’s why I hit her.” She hesitated, wondering whether or not she should finish her thought, but she decided to finish it. “And I’d do it again.”

Although the world had become much more tolerant in the years since they’d started dating, Spencer and Luke were still quite used to the slurs that were thrown their way. They paid them no mind, but for a child, who loved her fathers more than anything, hearing that word would push her over the edge. Luke couldn’t imagine how much that hurt her. Like them, she was better at taking crap herself that tolerating when it was aimed at someone she loved. “So, Mrs. Inez,” Spencer said calmly, “What’s going to happen here? I think we all see where the evidence points.”

As Mrs. Inez weighed her options, Spencer and Luke hoped she’d choose her next words wisely. “Sophie,” she started. “This is your last warning. If I have to see you in here again, you will be expelled.”

“You’ll lose my money,” her father replied quickly. “You won’t see another dime from me if she loses her spot here.”

“I care about the integrity of my school more than your money, Mr. Fausta,” she said honestly. “Your daughter has anger issues that I believe start at home. You saw the tape. She lunged at Diana first. While I don’t agree with violence, I cannot blame Diana for defending herself.”

Mr. Fausta turned toward Spencer and Luke, daggers shooting between all three men. “Diana,” the principal said. “I need you to tell me that there won’t be anymore violence.”

Luke immediately wanted to tell her that there wouldn’t be, as long as Sophie behaved herself, but his daughter beat him to it. “I will never instigate violence,” she said proudly, “But if she comes at me again, I will hit her. Hard.” She turned towards Sophie, as if to make her point clear. “Don’t talk to me. Don’t come near me. Don’t speak my name. Don’t say anything about my dads. Then we won’t have a problem.” 

She hasn’t even been dismissed, but with that she stood up and walked out of the office and leaned on the wall outside. “I think our daughter has made herself clear,” Spencer said with a smile. “And Luke and I are behind her decision.”

Once they’d been assured that Sophie was on her last strike and Diana was okay to go back to class, Spencer and Luke walked outside. Sophie was suspended for a week, so she quickly walked out of the school with both her parents. Not so subtly, Luke flipped Mr. Fausta the finger on his way out. “Hey baby,” Luke said as he bent down to give Diana a kiss on the forehead. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine now,” she said, a tear falling from her eye. “I just want her to leave me alone. And I swear I’ll kill her if she says anything like that about you and Daddy again.”

Spencer gathered his daughter to his chest. “Oh sweet baby,” he said. “I know it can be hard to hear those things, but none of it is worth you getting hurt. We’re very proud of you.”

“Yea?”

Luke gave her a hug as well, confirming Spencer’s sentiment. “Do you want to go back to class? Or do you want to go home for today?”

“Let me just text Emma and let her know I’m leaving,” she said. “That way she can give my math assignment for tonight.”

“Okay, baby,” Luke said. As they waited, Diana told Emma to get her tailored math assignment from the teacher and she could give it to her after school.

“Let’s get out of here.” Diana walked out of the school in between both of her fathers with her head held high. Growing up with her dads doing what they did, she didn’t like violence, but she was proud of herself for what she did.


	37. Unannounced

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's school holds an impromptu lockdown drill causing a wave of panic to fly through the school.

She’d never imagined herself in this situation. Just down the hall were two men with guns drawn. “Everyone get down,” she whispered harshly as she ran into her first class of the day. 

“What’s wrong, Diana?” her teacher asked.

Two figures clad in black masks. This wasn’t happening. “There are two men with guns at the end of the hallway!” Her teacher looked at her in confusion before peeking her head out into the hall and catching a glimpse of the men herself.

Immediately, the teacher’s eyes widened and she popped back into the classroom, quickly locking both doors behind her. “Everyone get in the corner of the room,” she said quietly. Diana and Emma cowered together in the back and Emma suggested Diana text her fathers.

“They might be able to stop it,” she said softly. Their teacher was crouching in front of the group of students, using her body as a shield as best she could. Pulling out her phone, Diana texted her fathers.

There are two shooters in the school! I’m scared. Can you help?  
Her fingers shook as she typed out the message. “You okay?” Emma asked.

Diana swallowed hard. Her fingers were numb and her heart was racing. Would this morning be the last time she got to see her dads? Would she die here with Emma? “No,” she cracked, the tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. “My heart is racing. I’m so scared.”

“We’re gonna be okay,” Emma replied, wrapping her arms around Diana and holding her close. “It’s gonna be okay. Just breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Your dads will probably be here soon. They won’t leave us here.”

—-

“That Diana?” Garcia asked. Luke and Spencer’s phones had both gone off at the same time.

As soon as they opened their messages, they both panicked, staring wide-eyed at their phones in horror until they turned on the TV. Flashing across the screen was a message that there were at least two armed men in Diana’s school. “I’m calling SWAT,” Emily said. There is no way in hell the BAU was sitting this one out. Not with Diana in there. But they needed to coordinate with whatever SWAT team was going in. 

Minutes later, Emily had it cleared with SWAT that they’d be heading in with them. “Let’s go.” With sweaty palms, Spencer pulled out his phone and texted Diana back.

“Bring my favorite niece back safe, okay,” Garcia said as she cried.

We’re on our way. Stay hidden. We love you. You’re going to be okay. I promise.  
—-

She was hyperventilating. How was she supposed to defend herself, her friends, if someone barged in with a rifle? What was she supposed to do? Her heart was about to beat out of her chest and she was having even more trouble breathing. “Look at me,” Emma said, putting her hand under Diana’s chin. “Breathe in when I snap my finger, breathe out when I do it again. Good.” Emma was the only thing keeping her grounded right now. “Keep doing that. We’re gonna be okay.”

The door shaking and rattling caught them all off guard, numerous students unable to keep themselves from screeching. The teacher was amazingly calm, turning around and telling all the students that it was going to be okay. Thankfully, their door stopped rattling. Maybe they’d left. “Stay with me, Di,” Emma said. She could feel Diana start to faint in her arms. “Stay with me.”

—-

As the SWAT team made their way up the steps, followed closely by the BAU, Spencer’s heart threatened to explode. When he looked to the side, his husband couldn’t mask his fear either. “What if something happens to her?” Luke asked. 

“Don’t,” Spencer barked quietly. “We can’t think like that. Let’s go get our baby back.” There were teams going in through all sides of the school, make sure they were surrounded. 

Spencer, Luke and Emily were following behind two SWAT members, creeping slowly around each hallway in search of the masked men. After what seemed like an hour, but was likely two minutes, they saw two men at the end of the hallway. “Drop your weapons!” the SWAT member screamed. “Drop ‘em!”

The yelling that ensued was like a bad orchestra going off in Spencer’s ears, but finally the men dropped their weapons and showed their own badges. Luke wiped the spit off his chin in rage. “You’re officers?! What the hell is going on?”

“The local department and the administrators decided to start implementing lockdown drills,” the man said calmly. 

Spencer was about to explode, handing his gun off to Emily to keep himself from smashing someone in the head with it. “An unannounced drill?” he breathed. “Our daughter texted from her classroom petrified that she was about to die. What the fuck were you thinking? Why would you put them through unnecessary fear? What the hell is the matter with you?” 

Angrily, he texted Diana what happened and asked where she was so they could come and get her. “We’re going to need to speak with the administrators who decided on this, as well as the chief of your department,” Emily said exasperatedly. “This is beyond unprofessional.” 

Within seconds, the students were notified by members of SWAT and the BAU that it was a drill. None of it was real. When the door opened, Diana ran into Luke’s arms and sobbed. “I thought it was real. I’m sorry! I thought I wasn’t gonna get to see you or Daddy again.”

“It’s okay, baby,” he soothed. “It was all fake. And Daddy and I, and your aunts are gonna go yell at the people who decided to do this. You’re coming home with us now. Emma,” he called. “You too.” After so many years, Emma’s mom and dad had given Spencer and Luke permission to take her from school as well. They’d had enough of this. It was time to go home.

—-

Once SWAT had vacated the premises, Spencer, Luke, Emily and JJ walked into the principal’s office. “What the hell is the matter with you people?” Spencer yelled. Emily and JJ came up from behind him.

“We got this. Take care of the girls,” Emily said. “What was this administration thinking?”

The principal and other administrators started to explain that they intended to simulate the most lifelike situation possible in order to best prepare the students for what could happen. “That’s not how you prepare them,” she said matter-of-factly. “You have trained professionals like ourselves or SWAT come in and tell the kids exactly what would happen, and exactly what they’d need to do. We tell them all the possibilities we can think of. We teach them about the most common types of guns used in these types of situations. We teach them defensive maneuvers…just…”

JJ’s eyes had been threatening to let a stream of tears slide for the past hour. “I understand your intention,” she said calmly, “But this was unbelievably poorly thought out. Do you realize what could’ve happened to some of those kids? Who knows how many of them will now have panic disorders because of what happened here today? Do any of your students have heart issues? You could’ve induced a cardiac issue with this! My suggestion would be that all of the students go home for today. I think they’ve had enough for today.”

Everyone else’s voices faded to the background as Luke and Spencer hugged both girls. “We’re going home now. Emma, call your mom and dad and tell them what happened. She can pick you up by us.”

“We’re gonna go,” Spencer said to Emily with a nod of his head. “See you tomorrow.” 

“It’s good, Reid,” she replied. “See you in the morning.”

As they left the school, Spencer was thankful that Emily and JJ had decided to stay behind and ream the administrators a little more, because right now, he had a lot to say and wanted to explode. But they needed to be clear-headed for the girls. “It’s okay, baby,” Spencer whispered. “It’s all over.” 

Within minutes, both girls were asleep in the back of the car. This was not what they had expected this morning when they’d seen Diana got on the bus. “We could’ve lost her,” Spencer breathed. “That could’ve been the last time we saw her.”

“But it wasn’t,” Luke replied. He looked into the back seat to see her sleeping peacefully. “She’s okay.” They’d heard from other parents that knowing your kid was in trouble, or having them out of your sight, was one of the worst feelings ever. But they hadn’t truly understood until now. Both took a deep breath; they hadn’t been able to breathe properly since they got Diana’s text. Their entire world had almost fallen apart.


	38. Epic Rant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana has a classmate, not Sophie, make a negative comment about her fathers in class, so Diana goes off.

“I don’t get it,” Caitlin said. Diana clenched in her seat. She could feel it coming - the slurs, the negativity. Over the past year or so she’d heard enough of it to last a lifetime. Caitlin was going to say some stupid, ignorant shit, and Diana wasn’t going to hold back. She’d had enough.

The teacher, Mr. Montibello, turned his attention toward Caitlin. She hadn’t actually raised a hand, but he decided to address her anyway. “What don’t you get?”

Before she started speaking, there was a slight glance in Diana’s direction. It was absolutely no secret in her school that she had two fathers. She wasn’t even the only one, but she did happen to be the only one in this particular classroom. “I don’t get the whole idea of homosexuality, like…that’s not how people evolved.” She smirked toward Diana’s side. “We evolved because we were able to procreate and you can’t do that if you’re gay.” Under her breath, she mentioned that Diana ‘came out of nowhere’ because her fag fathers couldn’t magically have her.

Mr. Montibello was about to speak, when Diana decided to answer her for him. “Well, actually, just to set the record straight, pun intended, my fathers aren’t gay. They are both bisexual. Both had relationships with women before they married each other. So number one, you have that wrong. Two, sure, people got here today because of the ability to procreate, but if you want, I can give your ignorant ass some examples of homosexuality and bisexuality throughout history.” The rage from the past year and a half or so had been building up to this point and Caitlin just happened to be on the receiving end. However, Diana couldn’t deny that letting this all out was already starting to feel great, and she was nowhere near through yet. The teacher was about to scold her for using a ‘curse word,’ but Diana didn’t care; she’d take whatever the repercussions were later.

Turning in her seat, she made sure to make direct eye contact with Caitlin. Emma was sitting behind Caitlin with the biggest grin on her face. If Diana could see correctly, Emma had mouthed ‘that’s my girl’ in her direction. “In Ancient Greece, many men and women were paired up for the purpose of procreation, but men were widely known to take male lovers, and not only was in not looked down upon, it was revered by other members of the community.” She geared up for a lengthy rant. “Now, you may be thinking that homosexuality was only revered in ancient Greece, but once again, you’d be wrong.” God, she felt great right now, and although she knew that Mr. Montibello was going to want to talk to her after class, she could see a smirk on his face; he was proud of her. “In Ancient China, homosexuality was seen as a normal facet of daily life until Westerners, of course, came in and fucked it up in the 1840s and onward. Some writings from the Liu Song Dynasty claimed that homosexuality was just as common as heterosexuality dating back to the late 3rd century. And I quote ‘All the gentleman and officials esteemed it. All men in the realm followed this fashion to the extent that husbands and wives were estranged. Resentful unmarried women became jealous.’”

At this point, Diana had the attention of everyone in the room, and with the exception of Sophie, who was sitting across the room with her arms crossed in complete silence, all of the other students had her back. More often than not, people were much more accepting, but the ones that weren’t were always the most vocal, so Diana had to be louder. And she would. Forever and ever. 

“If you actually did a damn bit of research instead of just running off at the mouth, you’d find that all over the world - China, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Japan, indigenous tribes in the Americas - all of them exhibited heterosexual and homosexual relationships, it only started to be seen as a negative thing when Westerners came in and started screwing shit up.” She inhaled hard; she hadn’t realized she’d barely taken a breath the entire time. Emma was having a ball listening in. They were definitely going to have things to talk about later. “And finally, I just have to add that while my fathers are madly in love with each other and have been for more than a decade and a half, your parents got married because your mom got pregnant with you but they actually hate each other and now they are in the middle of a nasty divorce, so who’s luckier, you or me?”

With that, she turned back to face forward in her seat and looked at Mr. Montibello. “Sorry, sir,” she said with a smile on her face. “I just had to get that out. By all means, say what you were going to say. I’d like to hear your take on it.”

A smirk crossed Mr. Montibello’s face and he began speaking, but it faded to the background of Diana’s mind. She was too proud of her herself to care. She didn’t regret what she said, but she did get amazingly worked up, and she could feel a small panic attack coming on. After a few minutes of listening to her teacher, she asked to use the restroom. “Sure, Diana,” he replied, with a look that said he wanted to see her after class.

Once she was outside the classroom, she ran to the bathroom and into one of the stalls. Her heart was racing. Was this a panic attack or just energy from her rant? She wasn’t quite sure, but she hated feeling like this. As she felt her heart thump in her chest, she realized that it was most definitely a panic attack. She had no regrets about saying what she said, but she had this sick spiraling feeling that her words were going to get her in enormous trouble with teachers and administration. What if she got kicked out of school? What would her fathers think?

It was only about ten minutes later, when she knew class would be getting dismissed, that the shakiness and sweating had subsided. She held her head high and walked back into the classroom just as Caitlin was walking out. It took everything she had not to flip her the finger, but she held back. “Ms. Alvez-Reid?” her teacher said. “Can I see you for a moment?”

Her fears were unfounded. Her teacher asked that she not bring either of their personal lives up again, but he didn’t fault her at all. “Just lessen up on the language, okay?” 

“Yes, sir,” she smiled. “Thank you.”

When she walked out of the classroom with Emma, her friend couldn’t contain herself. “That was amazing!” she cried. “God, that was brilliant. I wish I had been able to record it because I would totally watch that on loop forever.”

“I just couldn’t hold it in anymore,” Diana laughed. That had been their last case of the day, and her fathers were going to pick up the two of them to go away for the weekend. There was this amazing water park nearby that both girls desperately wanted to go to, so Spencer and Luke decided to take a couple days off and take them both. 

When they walked down the stairs, Emma asked to stop by her home because she needed to pick up her clothes for the weekend, but she occupied their time by recounting Diana’s entire rant for them. “Oh my god, Mr. Alvez, Dr. Reid, you should have been there. You would’ve been so proud.”

They stopped at a red light, so both men took the opportunity to turn around and tell her just how proud they were. “We already are proud,” Luke said, placing his hand on his husband’s knee.

“And she used statistics,” Spencer said happily, jokingly clutching his chest. “ I am so very proud of my baby."


	39. Omitting the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana doesn't tell her fathers that she is going out on a date with Michael LaMontagne. After a fun day out, she gets caught, and confesses that she lied to them. Then she asks their advice about love and sexuality.

For weeks now, Diana and Michael had been wondering if there was something more between them. One morning recently, she woke up to the image of kissing Michael LaMontagne, one of her best friends since the day she was born, but then again, she’d had that kind of dream about a number of people, boys and girls, so she wasn’t sure what to do with it. 

“You’re gonna come to museum today, right?” Michael had texted her. Neither of them let their parents know that they were going on a “date,” but they wanted to see where it went. She texted back that yes, she was going to go to the museum, but she didn’t want to let her dads know exactly where she was going. Instead of telling them the truth, she told them she was going to a friend’s house - Aiyana from her soccer team.

Spencer and Luke gave her a kiss goodbye and told her to stay safe and have fun, and she felt a pang of guilt. Maybe she should just tell them where she was going and who she was going with. They wouldn’t have a problem with Michael, not by a long shot, but she was afraid that they wouldn’t want her going on a date at 14, so she decided to not say anything. 

When she closed the door, she walked in the direction of Aiyana’s house and then turned around to head toward Michael’s. He and Henry were the only ones at home. Henry and his girlfriend, would be taking them there, and they’d be meeting up with Jack Hotchner and his new girlfriend. “Hey! You look very pretty,” Michael said, handing Diana a flower from his backyard. She smiled and tucked it into her hair as she, Michael, Henry and his girlfriend, Alaina, piled into the car to head toward the museum. “You’re not gonna tell mom and dad, right?” he asked Henry.

“Of course not,” he said. “But I don’t think they would care.”

“Probably not,” Michael replied, “But Diana doesn’t want Uncle Spencer and Luke to know.”

“Why not?” Henry asked confused.

Diana just said it was because of her age. She was on the young side to be “dating,” but she honestly didn’t even know what this was. She just wanted to see how she felt about Michael. “I don’t think they’d really be bothered by it, Diana,” he said honestly. “I won’t say anything. But you’re a good kid. I think they’d be okay with it.”

Within ten minutes they were at the National Air and Space Museum being introduced to Jack and his new girlfriend. “Ohhhh,” she said after learning who Diana was. “Nice to meet you, ladies. And you too Michael. Hi again, Henry.”

As they walked up to the counter, Diana pulled out her rose-colored wallet with all the money she’d saved recently. “I’ve got it,” Michael said, reaching into his own wallet and pulling out some cash for tickets. “I just got my first part-time job. I’d like to pay…if you don’t mind.”

“Thank you, Michael,” Diana replied sweetly. Michael had grown quite a lot in the last couple of years, so at this point, he towered above her. She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Without thinking, she linked her hand in his and they walked toward the Exploring the Planets exhibit. “This is awesome!” She looked around the exhibit at how it was seen through the “eyes” of the Voyager that explored space. “What are you supposed to do when you wanna do everything in life?”

Michael laughed bringing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her toward him. “What do you mean by that? Like jobs? You wanna be an astronaut?”

Diana wanted to be everything. How was she supposed to choose what to do with her life when she loved so many things? She wanted to be a zoologist. She wanted to be a doctor. She wanted to be an astronaut. She wanted to be a marine biologist. There was an endless amount of things she wanted to do with her life and there wasn’t enough time to do them all. “I want it all,” she laughed. “How do I decide what I want?”

“Well, we’re both still young, so we don’t have to choose just yet,” he replied. “But my guess would be to think about which one of those things you could imagine doing day in and day out for 40 or 50 years - and even that thought excites you. What couldn’t you live without if it were taken away from you?” It was more of a rhetorical question, so she let it roll around in her head for a while. She was 14; thank god, she didn’t have to decide just yet.

As the left the Planets exhibit and walked toward the Sea-Air Operations exhibit, Diana asked if Michael’s desire to be a part of the BAU had ever wavered. It hadn’t. “No,” he smiled. “It’s still what I want. I can’t imagine doing anything else.” Diana buried her head in his shoulder as they continued to walk around the various exhibits. Whenever they spent time together, it was effortless. They didn’t really need a whole lot of words to communicate. That’s why spending time with Michael was so enjoyable. That was the other thing. How were you supposed to choose one person to spend your time with? She was pretty sure she was capable of loving more than one person, so who did she choose? Michael, another boy, one of her other friends, a girl? She didn’t know and it was all very confusing. 

“Where to now?” he asked, holding out the museum map in front of Diana. “Your choice.”

“How about this?” World War II Aviation was a big exhibit and she’d always loved history. As soon as they walked in, they were eye to eye with a B-17 Flying Fortress plane, a replica of one used in WWII. “God, I wish we could climb on it,” she laughed.

Michael would’ve jumped on that opportunity with great joy. “Do you think we’ll ever grow out of that?” he asked. “Wanting to play with things we shouldn’t? Because they’re not fucking toys?”

Diana giggled into his shoulder. “Absolutely not. Dad and Daddy would definitely wanna jump on this plane and they’re not kids, so I don’t think we’ll ever grow out of it.”

“Good,” he replied with another smile that made Diana blush. “Because I don’t want to.”

“Me either,” she replied. They’d pretty much been walking around by themselves, occasionally passing Henry and Alaina, as well as Jack and his girlfriend. They went into a few more exhibits: Modern Military, Moving Beyond Earth, and Rockets and Missiles, but eventually, it was time for them to leave. They’d been there for hours.

Henry and Alaina came out of nowhere and asked if they were ready to leave. “You two are gross,” Michael laughed. They’d been all over each other all day. He was pretty sure his big brother would marry her one day. She’d make a cool sister-in-law and Henry really seemed to love her, so he was okay with that. 

After walking around all day, Diana drifted off on Michael’s shoulder as they made their way back to his house. “Time to wake up, Di,” he said when they arrived. “You sure you don’t want me to walk you back?”

“Yea,” she nodded. “I had a great time today.”

“Me too,” he said. Gently, he placed his hand on the small of her back and pulled her into him, placing a soft kiss on her lips before pulling away. It was small, but Diana felt her heart go all wobbly. She kissed him back before pulling away and heading home.

“Make sure to text me when you get home!”

“I will!”

When she approached her house, she pulled out a key and opened the door. “Where have you been?” Luke asked, his arms crossed over his chest. “You weren’t at Aiyana’s.”

She stared between both of her fathers blankly and her palms began to sweat. How had they known? Was it just a parent thing? “Aiyana and a couple other girls from the soccer team were out on her front lawn,” Spencer said. “You weren’t there. Why would you lie to us?”

The disappointment in their eyes almost broke her; they’d always been so proud of her, and she’d let them down. She wasn’t going to continue lying - it wouldn’t get her anywhere. “I didn’t want you to tell me I couldn’t go,” she said softly, closing the door behind her. 

“Couldn’t go where?” Spencer asked, his eyes filled with worry at where his baby might have been. 

As she went to sit on the couch next to him, she let them know that she was out with Jack, his girlfriend, Henry, his girlfriend, and Michael. “So were you on a date with Michael?” Luke asked. His eyes began to water. She wasn’t a baby anymore. He wasn’t ready. 

A small smirk crossed Spencer’s lips. “Why didn’t you want to tell us that?” he asked. “You know me love Michael.”

“I know,” she said softly, “But I am 14 and I thought you’d tell me I couldn’t date yet, so I lied…I’m sorry.”

“You are a bit young to be dating, but Dad and I have already discussed this, and it’s okay, as long as you tell us where you’re going, who you’re going with, and when you’ll be back. We just want to make sure you’re safe,” Spencer said.

Luke walked from the kitchen and sat down on Diana’s other side. “And you can tell us anything. We’ll answer any questions you have, and we’ll respect your decisions, okay? Just don’t shut us out.”

“Okay,” she said after giving them both a hug. “I’m sorry again.”

After a few moments, during which Diana thought she might explode from the tension, Spencer asked how her date had gone. “It was fun,” she said. “We went to the National Air and Space Museum.” That definitely was his child, Spencer thought to himself. “And then before I left…Michael kissed me.”

“Really now?” Luke asked with a smile. He and Spencer could just imagine the look on JJ’s face when she found out. “Are you gonna go out with him again?”

She wondered if she should tell them about being confused, but she wanted to be open with them. “I don’t know. I know I like boys, but I don’t know if I like girls yet. I feel like I have enough love for lots of people, so how do you decide who to spend your time with?”

Luke grabbed Spencer’s hand and kissed it. “Well, it’s different for everyone,” he said. “For me and Daddy, we thought about who we couldn’t possibly live without, and that was each other. But some people have one monogamous relationship after another and enjoy each person’s company while it lasts. Other people don’t limit themselves to one person. Sometimes they date more than one person. It just depends on what’s comfortable for you.”

“That’s annoying,” she smiled.

“What is?” Spencer asked.

“Not knowing.” She twitched her fingers until she realized she had to text Michael and let him know she was home. “I wanna know what to do.”

Spencer let out a small huff of air and stood up to kiss his now-teenage daughter on the forehead. “We all do,” he replied. “But here’s a little secret…even when you grow up, and you meet someone, you still don’t know what to do in life…ever…it’s always confusing.”

“Really?” Her fathers always seemed so sure of themselves.

“Totally,” Luke said. “Life is an endless series of not knowing what the right decision is.”

Diana faceplanted in the couch with a giant ‘ugh,’ leaving her fathers chuckling on either side. She was just starting to realizing what growing up actually entailed. But they’d prepare her as best they could - and she’d be more than fine. She was their daughter after all.


	40. Knowing and Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After deciding to remain friends with Michael for now, Diana starts seeing fellow classmate Connor. One day after school, she finds him kissing someone else and runs home crying. Her trusty stuffed bunny, Thumper, and her loving fathers help her through it.

Screw him. He wasn’t worth it. 

Then why did it hurt so much?

Diana ran home from school after finding Connor Sloan kissing Katie Newfeld outside the school against the wall. He ran after her, tried to “explain himself,” but she turned around, kicked him in the balls and ran home, the tears stinging her eyes as she forged her way down the numerous winding streets.

Daddy was at work and Dad was out running errands, so she opened the front door, violently pushing it back so it almost made a dent in the wall and walked to her room, flopping down on the bed and pulling Thumper to her chest. 

She and Michael had decided to remain just friends for now because he would be going away to college soon, so she started seeing Connor about three months earlier. He was sweet. Or she thought he was. He was smart, nice, all of the kids and teachers loved him. He was athletic. When he held her hand, she felt giddy. But he was a liar, he didn’t like her. He’d always liked Katie Newfeld - she knew it. Why did she ever believe he could like her?

As the tears streamed down her face, she pulled Thumper closer to her. Over the years, she’d bought even more clothes for him. Today he was wearing a pink sparkly tutu and Star Wars shirt, because Star Wars was forever. With a sob, she gave him a squeeze - it had been so long since she’d heard her fathers’ voices coming out of him. “We love you,” she heard her Dad say from inside the stuffed brown rabbit. Her Daddy’s voice followed shortly after. “We’re always here for you.”

When they got home, she’d tell them. They knew about Connor. Ever since she snuck out with Michael, she decided to always tell them the truth, even if she did something that might not make them so proud. Why was she so affected by this? If he wanted to go and be with someone else, then he wasn’t worth her time. She knew that deep down. But it still hurt so badly. Knowing and feeling were two different things.

“You home, baby?” Luke called from outside. They were ridiculously short on food, so while Spencer was at work, he went grocery shopping. He didn’t hear a response from Diana, but was pretty sure she was home, so he put down the grocery bags and walked toward her room.

When he opened it, his heart broke - Diana was sobbing into the stuffed bunny they’d bought her a decade earlier. “Baby?” he questioned, his heart breaking more, into a million tiny pieces as she met his gaze. “What’s wrong?”

He sat on her bed at her side and gathered her close to him, just allowing her to cry. She’d talk when she was ready. Nearly ten minutes later, she looked up to him. “When I came out of school today, I saw Connor kissing Katie Newfeld.” The tears had subsided, but her voice cracked, the way Spencer’s did when he was sad, and Luke couldn’t take it. 

Luke thought that boy was nice, but now he was dead to him. “Baby, I’m so sorry. You know it has nothing to do with you, right? This is about him.”

“I know,” she cracked. “But it still hurts. Why is he so stupid?”

“Most boys that age are stupid,” he said, thinking back to his own days as a boy. He definitely did some stupid shit too - and right now he hated himself for it more than ever. “But it’s not about you. You’ll find someone better. Does Emma know? What about Michael?”

“I haven’t texted them yet. I could probably get Michael to beat him up for me,” she said with a smile. “But I won’t because Connor is stupid and I don’t want Michael to get in trouble.” After a few minutes, she pushed up from Luke’s shoulder and asked if she could be alone for a while. When he left, she buried herself in her blankets and watched a movie - one that always made her happy - Legally Blonde. 

It was nearly two hours before Spencer returned home from work. “What happened?” he asked immediately upon opening the door. He could see on Luke’s face that something was wrong.

“Go ask Diana,” he said. “Not my story.” He took a deep breath, the kind that told Spencer that his husband wanted to punch something; he had a feeling he knew what happened with Diana. 

Spencer approached her room and heard her shuffling around. Whenever she was anxious, she cleaned. She was definitely cleaning her room. “Hey honey,” he said, knocking softly on the door. “It’s Daddy. Can I come in?”

“Yea, Daddy,” she said. When he walked in, she was rearranging the clothes her closet. It looked ridiculously orderly. 

He walked up behind his daughter and turned her around to pull her head close to his chest. “Did Dad tell you?”

“No,” he replied. “What happened?”

She recounted the story again. That Connor had cheated on her, and she was hurt, even though she knew it wasn’t her fault. “I don’t understand. What did I do?”

“You did nothing,” Spencer said, lifting her face so she could meet his gaze. “He chose to do something. It has nothing to do with you. Anyone, guy or girl, who doesn’t know how lucky they are to have you, is absolutely not worth your time.”

Diana smiled softly. “I know,” she sighed. “But it’s still gonna take a while to get used to. I’m finished cleaning for now. And now I wanna eat.” As if on cue, her stomach grumbled. “So hungry.”

“How about we go out to eat? You, me and Dad.” Spencer looped his arm in his daughter’s and brought her outside. “We’re going out to eat.” Randomly, at least to Diana, Spencer asked his daughter how much Connor weighed.

“Why?” She laughed. “I think about 110 pounds.”

Luke smiled at the question. He knew where Spencer was going with that question. Years earlier, their co-worker Tara Lewis had come in one morning boasting that she’d lost 180 pounds - after breaking up with her fiancee. “Then we should go out and celebrate,” Spencer said.

“Celebrate what?” Diana asked.

“You losing 110 pounds,” he smiled. 

Diana snorted. It still hurt, but her Dads were right. A weight was lifted off her shoulders. Connor wasn’t worth her sadness.


	41. What If?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana starts to notice signs of abuse in Sophie and wonders if she's overreacting.

It had been months of this. Diana would go to school, surround herself with her friends, and more than occasionally, she would get Sophie up in her face. The thing was, she could never really do anything about it, because after the first time, Sophie made sure that whenever she bothered Diana, it was wherever a camera wasn’t. 

Diana hated getting physical with her - it wasn’t like her. Occasionally, she’d fling insults back in Sophie’s face, but more often than not, she’d just show no reaction and wait until she got bored and left her alone. It was annoying, but she loved her friends, and for the most part, she enjoyed her school. “That bitch needs to back off,” Emma said one day after Sophie had wandered off. Diana and her best friend were alike in most ways, but Diana hated confrontation - Emma thrived off it, especially when it came to defending her friend. “I’m so sick and tired of her skanky ass getting up in your face.”

Diana smirked at Emma’s colorful language - not that she didn’t have a foul mouth of her own, courtesy of Dad…mostly - but Emma held nothing back. “I don’t know,” she said softly. “I think there’s something wrong with her.”

“Yea, I know,” she replied, smacking her locker closed. “She’s a bitch is what’s wrong.”

Diana looped her arm in Emma’s as they walked to class. “No, I mean, I think she’s being abused.”

“Really?” Emma asked in surprise and almost immediate pity. “What makes you think that?”

It was a lot of things. Granted, it was starting to get cold out, but even inside the school, Sophie had recently been wearing very heavy clothes that covered almost every inch of her body. That wasn’t like her. Sophie had always liked showing skin. “She wears heavy clothes,” Diana started, listing off the signs she knew of thanks to her fathers. “She’s also stopped hanging out with her group of friends. They’re alienating her now, so she spends most of her time alone. Also,” she continued, remembering back to a few days earlier, “the other day, in class, I noticed that she got a D on her most recent math test…but that’s her subject. She’s always gotten A’s in math - always. And…despite the fact that she’s been withdrawing from her friends lately, during after school activities, she never wants to go home. Ever. I think her father is abusing her and her mother, but I can’t be sure.”

Emma sighed. She’d never really thought of any of those things in that way, though she’d noticed them too. All she knew was that this girl was fucking around with her best friend and she hated her for it. “Can you do anything?” she asked. “Is there some way you could know for sure?”

“No,” Diana replied. “But next time she comes up to me, I’m gonna tell her that if she needs help to let me know. I can’t do anything, but if she is being abused, my dads can.”

“You think they’d help her? After what she’s done to you?”

Diana smirked. It was no secret that her dads didn’t like Sophie, but they were law enforcers. If she was being abused, they would definitely help her. “Absolutely, it’s who they are.”

—-

Nearly a week later, Diana found herself in a very familiar situation. Emma was in most of her classes, but there were those occasional times when Diana would walk around the school by herself. Sophie was walking down the hallway and pushed Diana to the side just out of range of one of the cameras. “Are you serious?” Diana asked exasperatedly. “What is your problem?” 

Sophie stared at her dead-eyed, a slight wavering of her eyes giving her away. “I don’t have a problem.”

“I think you do,” Diana said, taking a deep breath. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on…here…at home…wherever, but I want you to know, if you need help, I’m here. Even if I can’t help you, my dads might be able to. You’re not alone, okay?” Diana pulled out a piece of paper and jotted her number down on it. “I don’t know if you still have it, or if you got rid of it after we started growing apart, but…here it is.” She gave her a small, pensive smile. 

As she walked away, she honestly just hoped that Sophie was a bitch. At least then she could blame her and her alone for her behavior, but if she was being abused at home, then someone else was to blame. Plus, as much as she hated Sophie for what she did to her, no one deserved to be abused - physically, emotionally or otherwise.

When she got home, she’d let her dads know what she thought. At the very least, they could be aware, even if they weren’t able to do anything.

—-

“How was school, babygirl?” Luke asked that day when Diana returned home from school.

She shrugged. It was a day, as most days were. “I got calculus homework from Mrs. Ryan. It’s like junior level college math, so she wants to see how I do.” She hesitated, wondering whether or not to tell her dads what was happening with Sophie. Maybe she was overreacting. But if she wasn’t, telling them could mean Sophie didn’t have to go through that any longer. “There was actually something I wanted to tell you both,” she said. 

“Something wrong?” Spencer asked, pushing up from the couch and walking over to the kitchen table. 

She sat down beside him and started fiddling with her thumbs. She really hoped she was wrong. “I think Sophie might be being abused at home.”

Spencer’s eyes widened. He’d noticed some abusive characteristics in Mr. Fausta when he’d met him, but he couldn’t have been sure at the time. “Why do you think that?”

She ran through everything with them. The withdrawal. The change in grades. The heavy clothes in class. “There’s just a lot that doesn’t make sense.”

“You know there’s nothing we can do unless she tells someone, right?” Luke asked. If it was true, he felt horrible, but they couldn’t do anything without some evidence. “Do you think she’s told anyone?”

“No,” Diana replied. “I think she and her mom are being abused. Mrs. Fausta always seems like she’s hiding from someone, even when she’s out in the open. I think she takes the brunt of it.”

“Keep an eye on her,” Spencer said. “Have you said anything to her?”

“Yea. Today actually. I told her that if something was wrong, she could tell me. And that she wasn’t alone.” Diana rested her head on her hands, wishing there was something more she could do. 

A few minutes later, she stood up from the table to get her calculus homework. Spencer walked up to her with a tear in his eye and hugged her. “I’m really proud of you,” he said. Even if something had been going on at home with his own bullies, he wasn’t sure if he would’ve had the desire to help them, but he and Luke had raised a great young woman, who they grew prouder of each and every day.


	42. A Diagnosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's psychiatrist, who she's been seeing for a couple of weeks, gives her a diagnosis for what she's been feeling.

“How’s your dad doing?” Dr. Bhujang asked. Therapy had been going really well for the past few weeks. When she thought back, she’d probably started feeling like this shortly after Sophie embarrassed her in front of her gym class, but it was only recently, when she’d started to notice the signs of Sophie’s possible abuse that the overwhelming feelings of dread had truly set in. “He’s the one at work right now?”

“Yea,” she said. “Since I was born, one of them has always been home with me. When I was really little, one of them stayed home one week and then they switched off. Now, one works full-time and one works part-time each week, and they switch off each week.” Ever since she was a kid, she couldn’t remember there being a time when one of them wasn’t there when she needed them.

Her psychiatrist jotted down a couple of notes. “Do you think you need to have one of them home at all times?” he asked.

“No.” She knew that if she ever really needed them, she could just call and they’d be there. “I think I’d be fine if they started going back full time, but lately I’ve been getting these feelings, I can’t really explain…” She started motioning with her hands in an attempt to indicate what she was feeling, but nothing was coming to her. It was really frustrating not being able to put a feeling into words.

During their first session, she’d told Dr. Bhujang about Sophie and what she put her through, that that was probably the first time she started feeling like this, but it was only recently, when she’d suspected that Sophie was being abused, that the feelings had kicked into hyperdrive. “So the most recent time you felt like this was because you saw Sophie come in with very heavy clothes that she wore all day despite it being warm inside the school?”

“Yea,” she replied heavily. “I just have a really bad feeling, and I can’t do anything about it.” 

Another few notes were jotted down before the Doctor asked her the typical psychiatrist question. “Well, when she walked in the other day, how did you feel? Physically and mentally?”

Diana took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, trying her best to break down what happened piece by piece to give him the best picture possible. “When she came in, I immediately took a sharp breath in. And I held it, but I didn’t mean to. Then it let go, I don’t remember actually doing it myself and I still couldn’t breathe well. Then I start shaking and sweating. If it gets really bad, I start feeling faint and I get numb in the extremities.” She wiggled her fingers for effect and the Doctor laughed.

For a few moments, Dr. Bhujang wrote down a ton of notes, pausing periodically and flashing a small smile in Diana’s direction. “Well, Diana, I think it’s fairly safe to say that you have a panic disorder. You’ve said these feelings only happen at very specific times, so I would’t say you have general anxiety, and you’re definitely not depressed, despite getting very sad when these attacks come on.”

“Dammit,” she said with a slight laugh. She had a feeling it was something like that, but she wasn’t a doctor, so she didn’t want to diagnose herself. “I had a feeling, but I was hoping I was wrong. So…what do I do about it? More therapy? Medication? I just really need to stop feeling like this, or at least find a way to make it go away faster.”

Quickly, he scribbled his doctor handwriting on a pad and handed her a prescription. “Xanax,” he said. “It’s very commonly used for people who have random panic attacks that aren’t consistent. Things like Ativan and Paxil and Prozac also work well, but those are better for people who are consistently anxious. The next time a panic attack comes on take one of these and it should help the panic attack to go away a bit faster and lessen the symptoms a bit.”

“Okay,” she said with a deep sigh. “I hope it works.”

“Try and keep careful track of how you feel in the 15-20 minutes after you take the pill, if it hasn’t gone away, or the symptoms are just as bad, we may have to up the dosage a bit, but I don’t want to start you on too much,” he said with a smile. “We’re out of time for today, but how about I see you in two weeks, and we can see if the dosage works for you?”

“Sounds good,” she replied, feeling a bit better now that she had an actual (and not just self) diagnosis. “Thanks, Dr. Bhujang.”

“No problem, Diana,” he said. “And say hello to your fathers for me.”

“I will,” she said. Spencer was waiting right outside for her. Soon she’d be able to get a driver’s license and they wouldn’t have to drive her anywhere. She felt bad that they always had to drive her places. She would’ve walked if the office were close enough.

As she walked outside and made an appointment for two weeks later, Spencer came up behind her. “How did it go?” he asked.

“I have a panic disorder,” she said with a half frustrated huff, half sigh of relief. “I kind of thought that.”

“Me too,” Spencer replied. He was nearly positive, but despite being a doctor, he wasn’t that kind, and he had no business giving out a diagnosis. “But you needed a medical doctor’s diagnosis, not just mine. So did Dr. Bhujang give you something for it? Or more therapy? What?”

As the receptionist handed her an appointment card for her next session, Diana handed the prescription to her Daddy. “Xanax,” she said. “Small dosage to start and if that doesn’t help, he said he’d up me. Can we go to the store now and get it filled? Because I want it for the next time I feel like shit.”

Spencer smiled and pulled her close to him as they exited the office and walked to the car. “Do you kiss your fathers with that mouth?” he laughed.

“Yesssss,” she replied. “I’d actually say I got my horrible mouth from my fathers. Both of them.”

Spencer’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “Not me. Definitely not me.”

“Lies.”

Ten minutes later, they were at the pharmacy and waiting for Diana’s prescription to be filled. “This whole thing with Sophie isn’t going away anytime soon I don’t think so thankfully I’ll have this for next time.” As she held the bottle in her hand, a calm washed over her. She felt like absolute hell whenever one of those attacks came on, but now she had a name for it and a way to handle it. It may not ever go away, but she had a way to handle it, and as Spencer’s hand came around her shoulder, she figured even if she couldn’t handle it, she wouldn’t have to go through it alone.


	43. The Olive Branch

Only 10 days until Christmas, which meant only three days until Christmas break. Diana couldn’t wait for some time alone with her dads again, especially because she was pretty sure they were both going go back to work full time. They’d be home soon. Luke had promised his special mac and cheese for dinner.

Just as she was about to sit down on the couch and do some studying for her math final, her specialized math final that she was exceptionally nervous about because it would help to indicate how far into college she could go when she started, she felt a buzzing in her pocket. Without even looking at who it was, she pulled it out and pressed it to her ear. “Hello?”

“Diana,” she heard someone whisper.

“Who is this?” she asked, seeing Sophie’s number on the screen as she pulled it from her ear. 

There was a slight hesitation on the other line before she spoke again. “It’s Sophie. Diana, help me, please?”

“What’s wrong, Sophie?” she asked worriedly.

Her voice sounded muffled, like she was hiding somewhere. “My dad is beating the shit out of my mom. She’s gonna die, Diana. I’m in the closet, but please. Can you help me?”

“You can’t call the local cops?” she asked, going through the options in her head. Sophie said no. Her dad knew too many people in the department for them to take the call seriously.

Diana pulled out the home phone, which they rarely ever used and dialed her Aunt Emily’s desk number. According to her dads, her Aunt was almost always in her office, while they tended to be away from their desks a lot. She decided to call her Aunt to save time. “Stay on the phone with me, Sophie. And don’t say anything, don’t move anywhere. I’m calling my dads and aunts now.”

Within seconds, her Aunt picked up the phone. “This is Agent Prentiss,” she said.

“Aunt Emily,” Diana said quickly. “It’s Diana. There’s this girl at school, Sophie-”

“The girl that’s been bullying you?”

“Yes,” she said quickly “But that doesn’t matter, her dad is beating the crap out of her mother as we’re on the phone. She called me scared and she can’t call the local cops because her dad is friends with the department. Can you guys intervene? Are you allowed?”

Emily stood up from her desk and gave Diana instructions on how to handle Sophie before telling her that they’d be on their way momentarily. “Her address is 758 Hummingbird Lane in DC. Thanks, Aunt Emily.”

“We’ve got it, kiddo,” she replied. “I’m gonna get everyone together now Don’t worry.” With that, she hung up and Diana tried her best to calm Sophie down.

“My aunts and dads are on their way, Sophie. She said don’t say anything. And don’t move from the closet no matter what you hear, okay?” 

Sophie sobbed quietly on the other line, saying she wouldn’t move anywhere. “Please, hurry.”

—–

“Spencer, Luke,” Emily said as she walked out of her office. “Diana just called me.”

Their heads popped up immediately, asking all sorts of questions before Emily could even get out another word. “Chill,” Emily said, “Diana is fine. She got a call from Sophie. Her father is beating her mother right now, and she asked if we could intervene.”

Spencer’s heart dropped. He hated what Sophie had done to his daughter, but like Diana, he wasn’t sure about her home life and he felt for her. “She can’t call the locals?” JJ asked, strapping on her vest. 

“No,” Emily said, “Diana claims that Sophie’s father knows too many people in the department so they don’t take her seriously.” Within minutes, the rest of the team had their vests on and were running out the door. Luke pulled out his own phone and texted Diana.

We’re on our way there right now. Tell Sophie to stay calm.   
—–

Within a half hour, the BAU had stormed into 758 Hummingbird Lane and pinned Mr. Fausta against the wall. He’d threatened and pushed and punched his way around, but JJ gave him one swift kick to the face and he was out. Mrs. Fausta wouldn’t have made it much longer. Her face was covered in bruises and he’d cracked a few of her ribs. Based on the yellowing bruises, 

“Sophie!” Spencer called. “Sophie! It’s Diana’s dad. It’s okay.” 

Diana heard her Daddy through the line and told Sophie it was okay to move. Shakily, she walked downstairs. “Where’s my mom?” she sobbed.

“She’s being taken to the hospital,” he said softly. “We’ll take you there. It’s okay now.” Sophie took two steps down to the bottom of the stairs and collapsed into Spencer’s and Luke’s arms.

Nothing excused how Sophie had treated their daughter, but they couldn’t help but feel awful as the scared girl sobbed into their arms. “Thank you.”

“It’s okay, honey,” Luke said. “It’s over.”

—–

While Spencer took Sophie to the hospital, Luke went home to grab Diana. “Is she okay?” Diana asked the minute he walked. “Sophie and her mom?”

“Her mom is very hurt, but I think she’ll be okay,” he said, wrapping his daughter in his arms. “And Sophie is physically fine. You wanna come see her?”

Diana shook her head and the two headed out to the hospital to meet Sophie and her mother. “Diana!” she cried, running up to her and hugging her the minute she walked in the room. “I’m sorry for all the things I’ve said and done to you. Thank you for helping me when I was so mean to you.” She lifted her head up and wiped her tears with the back of her arm. 

Just as she was about to say something else, the doctor came in and said that although Sophie’s mother was going to be okay, she was going to need to be in the hospital for a while to recover. They had no other family, so there was no one else to take care of her mother while Sophie was at school - the doctors needed to do it, and for that to happen, she needed to be admitted. 

While Sophie sat at her mother’s bedside, Diana walked outside to talk to her dads and aunts. “Thanks, everyone,” she said. “Ummm…Dad, Daddy? If Sophie doesn’t have any other family, doesn’t that mean she’s going to have to go into foster care for a couple of days?”

Luke shook his head. “Yea, that’s normally what happens.” He didn’t like the idea of Sophie spending Christmas in foster care, and when he looked toward Spencer, he could tell he didn’t like the idea either.

“Do you wanna see if Sophie wants to stay with us for a couple of weeks? Until her mother can come home?” Spencer asked. They would have to sign a few papers, but they could serve as her guardians for a period of time as long as her mother allowed it.

That’s what Diana was going to ask them. No one should have to spend Christmas alone. “Thanks,” she smiled.

Spencer kissed her forehead and then Luke did the same. “No problem, baby,” he said. “We’re very proud of you.”

“Hey, Sophie,” she said as she walked into the room. Mrs. Fausta had just woken up. 

“What happened?” her mother said, her mind still foggy from the beating. 

Diana and Sophie told her the whole story. “Oh my god, baby, I’m so sorry,” her mom cried, bringing her daughter’s head to her lap. “I’m so, so sorry.”

After the two had sobbed into each other for a little bit, Mrs. Fausta asked what was going to happen to Sophie while she was in the hospital. “Well,” Diana said. “If it’s okay with you, and Sophie wants to, she can stay with me and my dads until you can come home.”

Her mother started to tear, feeling a bit better about having her daughter away from her on Christmas day. “Really?” Sophie asked. “You would do that?”

“No one should have to be alone on Christmas,” she replied. “We’ll work things out, okay?”

“Yea,” Sophie replied with a soft smile. “Thank you.”


	44. It's In The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie comes home with Diana over Christmas break and the two start over again.

Before Diana, Sophie, Luke and Spencer left the hospital that day, Spencer and Luke spent a little time with Mrs. Fausta; they wanted to see if she had anything for Sophie for Christmas.

“I have a couple things that I wrapped in the garage,” she said weakly, her ribs still hurting from where her husband had punched her. “Can you take them and give them to her? I don’t want her to have nothing to open.”

“Of course,” Spencer said. “I figured we’d take her over to pack whatever she thinks she’ll need for a couple of weeks. We’ll grab whatever gifts are there for her.”

As they got up to leave, Mrs. Fausta called them back once more. “Thank you,” she said softly, the tears stinging the wounds on her face. “Thank you for helping me. Thank you for helping Sophie. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough.”

“It’s okay,” Luke replied. “Just get some rest.”

Her eyes fluttered closed and the two men left her to get some sleep. “Are you okay to go back to your house and grab some things you might need?” Spencer asked Sophie. Going back to the scene of the crime could be damaging for anybody, but especially because it was her own home. 

“Will you come in with me?” she asked shakily. Of course they would. Nearly 15 minutes later, the four of them were back in Sophie’s home helping her pack clothes and anything else she would need. 

Diana chuckled slightly as Sophie proceeded to pack nearly every item of clothing she owned. “You know we have a washer and dryer, right? You won’t run out of clothes?”

“I…Yea, I guess,” she said. After packing almost two enormous duffel bags of clothes, toiletries and electronics, they headed out. Diana and Sophie hadn’t gotten along in almost five years. She was pretty sure Sophie had changed, at least somewhat, but she couldn’t deny she was a little nervous about sharing her home with Sophie for an extended period of time.

—-

The first couple of days, while they were still in school, Sophie was pretty isolated. She barely said anything to the three of them, just giving small smiles whenever they’d make eye contact. Originally, Diana asked if that was normal, or if maybe she still harbored some secret hatred for her, but both Spencer and Luke claimed that after what she had been through, it would have been out of the ordinary for her to be amazingly talkative. “Just let her come to you, okay?” Luke said. “She’ll start talking when she’s ready.”

It was only three days before Christmas that Sophie finally allowed someone in. In the middle of the night, Diana got up to grab a glass of water and found Sophie tossing, turning and screaming in her sleep. “Sophie,” Diana whispered, jolting her back and forth to try and wake her. “Sophie, wake up,” she said again. “It’s okay.”

“What?” she cried, bolting upright and hanging her head in her hands. 

Diana wrapped her arms around her neck and brought her close. “You’re safe. Your mom is safe. It’s okay.” She was shaking. Her clothes were damp with sweat, but she was cold to the touch. “You’ve been having these nightmares for a long time, haven’t you?”

Sophie just nodded, saying nothing for a few minutes. “It’s been years. My dad was always emotionally abusive toward her and me, but the physical didn’t start until a few years ago. My mom was just so afraid - she couldn’t find a way to leave.”

“That’s the power of an abuser,” Diana said. Years upon years of asking her dads what their jobs entailed, brought her a knowledge of the criminal kind that a normal girl her age wouldn’t have had. “But he’s going to jail. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

Of course Sophie knew that. She couldn’t believe her father was finally out of her life, but it still weighed on her mind. Nearly 30 minutes went by and she was still shaking. “Do you want me to stay here?” Diana asked. “Or you can come in my room? My bed is really comfortable.” She gave her a little smile and motioned back toward her room with her thumb. 

Without saying anything, Sophie stood up from her place on the couch bed they’d provided for her and walked with Diana toward her room. In minutes, she was under the covers and fast asleep. Hopefully, having someone nearby would keep the nightmare at bay.

—-

The following morning, without school as a reason to get up early, the girls slept in until about 10 o’clock. “Morning,” Diana said sleepily as she combed out her hair. “Did you sleep any better?”

“Yea,” she smiled. “Thank you, Diana.” For a few moments, what seemed like tension hung in the air. Sophie wanted to say something, but didn’t seem to be able to. “Diana?”

“Yea?” The panicky feeling was coming to her again, and she readied her hand at the Xanax bottle, wondering if she’d need it.

Sophie stood up and grabbed her own brush, combing out her pin straight hair that tended to get really knotty when she slept. “I know I said it the other day, but it was kind of in the heat of the moment. I wanted to…actually tell you how sorry I am for what I did to you. It’s not an excuse, but I did what I saw my dad doing because that’s what I knew. It wasn’t right, and I’m really, really sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Diana smirked, pulling on her bathrobe and handing Sophie an extra one. “Yea, I think I can. On one condition.”

“Of course,” she said.

Her bullying was one thing, but the thing that had always bothered Diana most was the insults Sophie had hurled at her fathers. “If you also apologize to my dads for what you called them, I can forgive you.”

Sophie got a little nervous, as if apologizing to an adult were harder than a peer, which in some ways it was. But she knew that what Diana was asking wasn’t out of the question at all, especially because they’d opened their home to her. “I can do that. Again, it’s not an excuse, but it’s a word my dad used. I don’t actually have a problem with gay people.”

“They’re bi, remember?” Diana laughed. “But I get it. I don’t excuse it, but I do understand. I’m gonna go brush my teeth and then I’m pretty sure my Daddy’s got a Star Wars waffle maker around here somewhere. You want waffles and bacon this morning?”

“Sounds delicious.” While Diana went to go get cleaned up, Sophie walked outside into the living room to see Luke and Spencer already watching TV and making breakfast of their own. Luke was also wrapping up a couple of last-minute gifts. “Mr. Alvez? Dr. Reid?”

The two men greeted her good morning with wide smiles that made Sophie feel even more guilty for what she’d put them and their daughter through. “What’s up, honey?” Luke asked. “Get an okay night’s sleep?”

“Yea,” she said. “I was having pretty horrible nightmares, which is how I ended up in Diana’s room, but I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry for the things I used to say about you, and what I did to Diana. It wasn’t right and I’m sorry…” she was fidgeting with the thumbs, unable to really look them in the eye, but she did mean it. “I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here and helping my mom.”

Spencer walked over to Sophie and enveloped her in a hug. “Apology accepted. It’s over now.”

“I accept your apology too,” Luke said, giving her a hug of his own. “Want waffles?”

A sigh escaped her, an immediate weight lifted off her shoulders now that she had apologized to everyone. “Diana said they’re Star Wars ones?”

“Of course,” Spencer smiled. “I need my Death Star Waffles.”

“Dork,” Luke sneeze talked. 

Spencer turned around, playfully smacking Luke in the chest just as Diana came out of the bathroom. “And you love me for it.”

Sophie wished her mom was able to be there, but this was almost as good. It took a little while to get used to how much Luke and Spencer loved each other though, because for so long, she’d been accustomed to seeing her parents together. 

—-

“Get up, get up, get up, get up,” Luke slammed on his daughter’s door. At her age, Diana was even crankier in the morning than her fathers were, but it was Christmas morning, so she decided to get up.

Sophie turned and practically fell off the bed as Diana laughed. “Do they do that every morning?” she asked.

“No.” Diana yawned, stretching so hard she nearly fell out of the bed herself. “But they’ve done it every Christmas since I was 11. We’re coming!” Luke and Spencer had been laughing and pounding on their daughter’s door the entire time. 

In their nearly comatose state, both girls made their way outside to pancakes and Christmas gifts. At first, Sophie didn’t really expect anything because of what happened, but Spencer and Luke had picked up someone of Mrs. Fausta’s gifts she’d had hidden in the garage. “Your mom had these hidden in the garage,” Luke smiled, revealing a little pile of presents for her. 

Diana got a camera adapter for her iPhone, some new books, a bunch of new graphic t-shirts, because the ones she had she’d worn so much they had holes in them, and a new pair of converse. Sophie opened up the few gifts from her mother and then was taken off guard when Diana handed her a package. “I figured it helped me a lot,” she smiled.

As Sophie unwrapped the gift, she took in a journal with a feather on the front and started to cry. “Thanks, Diana,” she said softly. She was taken of guard again, when Spencer and Luke handed her a little package of their own. 

“Diana told us you like this,” Spencer said. “I know nothing about any of this, so you can thank her for this too, we just bought it.” Luke laughed. When they’d asked Diana what they could get Sophie, she gave them a couple of options, and they pretty much stared at her in confusion. 

She started to open the package and laughed. No wonder they had to ask Diana about it. It was a small bottle of the Prada perfume she loved from Sephora. Diana must’ve seen during the week that she was running out, so she had been using it sparingly. “Thank you so much…all of you.” 

Sophie started to tear up again and Diana pulled her in. “Let’s start over, okay? Hi, I’m Diana. I’m hungry and I want more pancakes.” Spencer snorted. Like him, she was always eating. She had a crazy, fast metabolism.

“Hi, I’m Sophie,” she said, extending her hand to Diana. “I am longer an asshole and I’m also really hungry.”

At first, Diana was a little freaked out about having to share her home with Sophie, but they were putting the past behind them. It was over now.


	45. Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana tries out for a talent show and meets a ton of other students like herself.

It was nearly seven weeks before Sophie’s mother was released from the hospital and in that time, Sophie and Diana got closer than she ever imagined they could. Sophie still had nightmares, but they’d lessened because Diana was always by her side. The entire time she’d stayed at Diana’s house, she’d allowed her to share her bed. On top of that, Diana had started singing a lot lately, because singing seemed to keep Sophie calm when she felt like the world was spinning around her. 

“Hey, Soph,” Diana said, giving her a hug. “Good to be back home?” She’d been back with her mom for about a week now. 

Sophie nodded and smiled. “I missed her. But now I miss you too.” Neither of them would’ve ever thought that they’d get that close, but life had a funny way of working out. “I’m running late for class. Talk to you later?”

“Yea, definitely,” she responded, watching as Sophie sprinted down the hallway. When she turned back toward her locker, Diana started to sing. It was one of the songs she’d been singing a lot lately. 

\---  
You’re so mean when you talk about yourself, you were wrong  
Change the voices in your head make them like you instead  
So complicated, look happy, you’ll make it  
Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game  
It’s enough, I’ve done all I can think of  
Chased down all my demons, I’ve seen you do the same

Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel  
Like you are less than, less than fuckin’ perfect  
Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you’re nothing  
You’re fuckin’ perfect to me  
\---

Whenever she sang, she felt light. Like there was nothing else in the world that mattered. As the lyrics fell from her lips, she closed her eyes and combed her hair in the mirror. “You have a really amazing voice.” She heard someone speak from behind her. The lyrics had been all she was paying attention to, so she hadn’t heard anyone. 

Turning around, she placed her brush in the locker and saw that it was one of the students who’d just transferred in. Her name was Alicia. “I have a thing for Pink too, because she shares my name,” the girl laughed. “I’m actually doing the talent show as a way to get to know people since I just started here. But you should join too. You’re really good.”

“Thanks,” she said, extending her hand. “I might do that. You’re Alicia, right?”

She nodded. Her smile was inviting. She’d do well here. “I think I might do that, Alicia,” she said.

“First tryouts are today,” she said.

She waved goodbye and went to class, leaving Diana to wonder whether she should really try out or not. She actually really wanted to sing that song, Perfect by Pink, but she wasn’t sure if the teachers would let her considering there was a curse in it. 

After she closed her locker, she texted her dads to tell her she was going to stay a bit later after school. 

“What for?” Spencer texted back quickly. 

“Talent show tryout.”

“Good luck, babygirl,” Luke said. “With that voice of yours, you’ll kill it. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Spencer texted. “Text us when you’re ready to get picked up.”

—–

One, two, three tryouts later, she made it into the talent show, singing the song she wanted to sing the way she wanted to sing it. She advocated that the song had such a good message that the curse should be allowed, and the administration agreed with her. 

Today was the day that everyone in the show was going to meet up to introduced themselves. Nothing formal, just randomly milling around with people. 

Diana walked into the auditorium and looked around, immediately walking up to a girl she knew as Malin - she was drawn to her because of her strikingly blue hair. “Hi!” Diana said, waving as she introduced herself. Within seconds, the girls were trading stories and Malin was pointing out the other students. “That’s Taina,” she said, pointing to the girl with short brown hair and a red top. “She’s gonna be playing the guitar.” She also saw Alicia from across the room and waved hello.

As Diana looked around, she took in the people around, all like her in their love of performing whether for themselves or for someone else. There were quite a few boys in the talent show, but most of the people performing were girls. Some had died hair, some had piercings, a couple already had tattoos because their parents had said it was okay. It was nice to look around and see so many seemingly different people come together for the same thing.

By the end of the hour, Diana had introduced herself to Malin, Taina, Ryan, Avery, and Danielle. “It was nice to meet everyone,” she said before she left. This talent show was going to be fun.

“How was the meet and greet?” Spencer asked, peeking his head out of the car window as he came to pick her up. 

Diana hopped in the front seat next to him and started telling him all about everyone she met. “How did you find out all of this information in an hour?” he laughed.

“What?” She asked. “I talk a lot!”

“Don’t I know it,” he replied with a smile. “One of your first words was shit.”

Diana snorted. She’d never heard that before. “Seriously?”

“Yup, you were home with Dad. I think I was running errands at the time. You dropped something on the floor and when you saw it, you said shit and bumped yourself in the head,” he said. “Dad was trying to keep you from saying it, but I was just so impressed that you used it in the right context. I couldn’t help but be proud.”

Speaking of proud. “Will you and Dad come to the talent show? Maybe my aunts and uncles too? Also, how expensive is it to learn guitar? Because I’d like to try.”

“Dad and I will absolutely be there,” he said, placing his hand on her head. “And I’m sure your aunts and uncles would love to be there too. As for the guitar, Dad and I will look into it.” 

Her desire for learning, both academic and otherwise never ceased to amaze him.


	46. Need. Sleep.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana babysits for her friend Monique's aunt.

“Wish me luck!” Diana said, waving as her dads drove off. She was babysitting for Monique’s youngest cousins, Derrick, 6, Amaya, 4 and Jasmine, who was just over a year old.

Diana loved kids, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t nervous. She’d met Monique’s family before, but the kids were definitely hyper. If worse came to worst, she told her fathers she would call them for help, but she was pretty sure she could handle it. “Hey,” she greeted, as Monique’s aunt opened the door. 

“Thanks again so much for doing this on such short notice,” her aunt said. Monique invited the two older kids over and introduced them even though they’d seen Diana once or twice before.

“You two have met Diana before, but this is my friend. Mommy and I need you to be good for Diana, okay?” Angelically, they both nodded their heads and went about what they were doing. “And here’s baby Jasmine.” She handed the baby over to Diana and immediately she cuddled up into her shoulder.

With the baby in tow, Diana walked into the kitchen to talk with Monique’s aunt. “We have everything set up for you. Here are the emergency numbers if you need anything. The two older kids have been bathed. If you’re able to give Jasmine a bath, that would be great. If not it’s okay. Here’s her food,” she said, pointing into the cabinet where Jasmine’s food was kept. Derrick and Amaya can have chicken nuggets and fries for tonight. Those are in the freezer…” She paused, trying to figure out if there was anything she’d forgotten. “I think other than that, you’re good to go. Any questions?”

“Not really,” she replied. “I’m sure I’ll be exhausted when I leave, but I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”

“They will definitely wear you out,” Monique’s aunt laughed. “But thanks again.”

As Monique, her aunt, and the rest of the family left the house, Diana took in her surroundings. The baby was still resting against her shoulder when she went upstairs to check on Derrick on Amaya. Both of them were in their own rooms. Amaya was watching an old Disney movie and Derrick was playing with his hot wheels. “I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit,” Diana said, taking Jasmine downstairs for a bottle. 

With a deep breath, readying herself for whatever was to come, she fixed up Jasmine’s bottle and sat with her on the couch. “Good bottle, sweetpea?” she asked. Somewhat sleepily, she nodded, or Diana thought she nodded, and she fell asleep, so she put her in the crib and went to check on Derrick and Amaya. 

“Hi!” Amaya said when she opened the door. “Can I use these stickers on you?” Apparently, she had a set of very sparkly stickers that she wanted to use on someone.

With a slight chuckle, she took Amaya’s hand and checked in on Derrick. “Apparently, Amaya wants to decorate me with stickers, so if you’d like to join us, feel free.” Derrick nodded his head and said he’d be downstairs in a minute; he just needed to finish his last car race.

Before sitting down with Amaya, Diana went to check on Jasmine, who was thankfully still asleep. “I’m ready now!” she said excitedly, sitting down on the floor in front of the little girl. Within ten minutes, she had placed nearly every pink, sparkly sticker on Diana’s face and clothing. Eventually, Derrick came down to join, but with stickers of his own - superhero stickers - that was more Diana’s style. He had also grabbed his mother’s brush. 

“Can I do your hair too?” he asked. He began to brush through Diana’s hair and she thought it was going to be a nice brush until he started to fluff it all around. “I’m styling it!” he laughed. “Like when mommy gets it styled. The hairdresser fluffs her hair all around.” Amaya was a little taken back, but once she saw how much fun her brother was having, she got right in there too, messing up Diana’s hair to the point of no return. 

When she stood up and looked in the mirror, it looked like her hair exploded; it was going to take her forever to brush it out, but they had a good time, so she lied. “You’re going to make a great hairdresser one day,” she said to Derrick, giving him a high five. 

“Can I watch a movie now?” he asked, pointing to one on the shelf. He was pointing to a Fast and Furious movie.

Diana laughed out loud. “No way, Derrick. You can watch a movie, but not that one.” Thankfully, she’d packed a couple movies just in case Monique’s family didn’t have ones that he felt like watching. He pouted, saying his mommy would let him, but when Diana said she could call her and ask, he backed down. “How about this one?” She reached into her bag and brought out Big Hero 6, which she wasn’t sure he’d ever watched.

“What’s it about?” he asked. 

She told him all about the big, puffy, marshmallow-looking nurse named Baymax and his friend Hiro, who was a really, really smart kid, just like his brother. She told him all about his super cool friends who invented all kinds of cool contraptions, including a girl who developed a super fast bicycle. He liked cars, so that last bit got him to watch it. After she put the blu-ray on, she realized she’d lost track of Amaya and needed to check on Jasmine.

Quickly, she ran to the baby’s room to see that she was stirring, but still asleep, and then went to look for Amaya. Oh no. When she opened the bathroom door, she saw that Amaya was sitting in the tub, with no water in it, but she had taken her father’s shaving cream and sprayed it all over the place. “Amaya!” she exclaimed, laughing but trying not to show it. She couldn’t think that was okay, but Diana couldn’t say it wasn’t funny. 

Before Diana knew it, she was picking Amaya up and flying her around the house until she got to the couch. She told Amaya the same thing she told Derrick about the moving and figured she could get them back to watch. Once she saw them both engaged in the movie, she spun around, combed out her hair as best she could, didn’t even bother to remove the stickers, and began to clean up the bathroom. And then she heard a noise coming from the baby’s room. “Dammit!”

Hurriedly, she ran into the baby’s room to find that she had found a way to unlock the side and had nearly fallen out. Diana wondered if she’d done that before and they’d forgotten to mention, or if it had happened just now and they were going to have to keep a closer eye on her now. She picked her up and made funny faces at her while she cleaned up the rest of the bathroom.

Thankfully, Jasmine was a pretty good baby for the most part, so Diana was able to clean up the bathroom and go sit out on the couch. This was exhausting. She could do it, but it was tiring. She wondered if this is what motherhood was like all the time. Because as soon as she sat down, the older kids turned toward her and asked if they could have dinner.

Diana dramatically huffed, laughed and fell to the floor, which caused the kids to giggle, but then she got up and pre-heated the oven while she prepared another bottle for the baby. Thank god the movie seemed to be interesting the older ones, because if she had to run around after all three of them, she was pretty sure she would die. 

Once dinner was ready, she got both of the kids to pause the movie and come to the table. Everyone ate, noisily, but they ate, while Diana was feeding Jasmine her bottle. It was only afterward that she had to put Jasmine on the ground to crawl around while she wiped the barbecue sauce off both of the kids’ hands before they got it all over the couch. 

By the time Monique and her family got back about four hours later, six in total, Diana was pretty sure she was going to pass out. “Oh my god,” Monique cackled. “They really did a number on you, didn’t they?”

“I’m so tired,” Diana laughed quietly. After getting paid by Monique’s aunt - at her insistence - Monique drove her home; she’d only gotten her license recently, so she was excited to do a bit of driving by herself.

All she could think about was her bed. It was 8 o’clock on a Saturday night, and all she cared about was sleep. When she walked inside, stickers still affixed to her cheeks and shirt, Spencer and Luke started cracking up. “Now multiply that by a thousand, and that’s how we looked the week we brought you home,” Luke said.

Spencer chimed in. “Seriously, ask Aunt JJ, we called her once and she thought we were in trouble because we said we were dying.”

Diana couldn’t possibly understand why.


	47. The Perfect Message

As Diana peeked out from behind the stage, she saw everyone there. Sophie was sitting with her mother, in front of her fathers, and aunts and uncles. She’d asked everyone to come, but now that she was closer to actually singing in front of everyone, she kind of wanted to throw up. Reaching down, she started to snap at the rubber band on her wrist - a suggestion from her therapist to help avoid panic attacks. It didn’t always word, but in situations like this, when the nerves her good ones, it normally helped.

Both her Uncle Hotch and Uncle Rossi had since retired from the Bureau, but she asked them to come, and they were there, along with Rossi’s daughter, Joy, her husband and Rossi’s grandson, Kai. Hotch was there with Jack, who she’d seen recently and who’d recently joined the team, and of course, her fathers, Aunts Emily, Penelope and JJ, with her own family, and even the new chief of the BAU. God, she wanted to throw up. Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, she wasn’t the first one to go on - Taina was.

Taina was going to be playing the guitar for Bohemian Rhapsody. As she walked up on stage, the guitar nestled comfortable around her neck by a strap, Diana couldn’t help but notice how confident she looked. Hopefully, she would be the same when her turn came. She had to ask Taina for some lessons in addition to the ones that her fathers had paid for. After buying her a used guitar, and being told that that was her birthday present for the year, she’d been practicing constantly. She had the basics down, but she wanted to have Taina’s skill. 

Everyone else in the show clapped from backstage as Taina got to the best part of the song. Her fingers glided over the strings with ease as she shredded. God, she was crazy skilled. If she wanted to, she could probably make a living off of it, but Diana wasn’t sure where she was headed after high school. 

Malin was up next. She was singing as the front for her band, The Swinging Pixies. Diana rocked back stage while Malin and her friends performed. One day, Diana was pretty sure Malin would be a superstar.

One by one, her friends went on stage, performing everything from pop to rock to rap. Some people danced. Others sang. Some did both. And then it was Diana’s turn. She was last. The staff wanted her to go last because of the message in the song. 

With shaking hands, she walked out onto the stage and sat on the stool provided for her. As she looked out, she saw the cheesy smiles of her fathers. Her aunts gave her a thumbs up. Man, she was nervous now. But here went nothing. “Pink originally wrote this for her daughter. Tonight, I’m dedicating this song to my friend Sophie, who’s been through a lot this year.” With a deep breath, the song began.

Made a wrong turn, once or twice  
Dug my way out, blood and fire  
Bad decisions, that’s alright  
Welcome to my silly life  
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood  
Miss ‘No way, it’s all good’, it didn’t slow me down  
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated  
Look, I’m still around

The chorus started, and she allowed herself to truly feel. Thankfully, she didn’t grow up the way Sophie did. Her fathers were her everything, but she allowed herself into Sophie’s shoes and let it all out.

Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel  
Like you are less than, less than fuckin’ perfect  
Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel like you’re nothing  
You’re fuckin’ perfect to me

Over the six weeks they spent in close quarters, Diana and Sophie really got to know each other. As Diana had suspected, Sophie’s bullying came from her father’s abuse, which stemmed in her a belief that she was nothing. She had to make people feel like her. For weeks, she talked badly about herself, until Diana said she was a new person now and needed to start talking about herself like she was one, so whenever Sophie said something bad about herself, Diana would poke her.

You’re so mean when you talk about yourself, you were wrong  
Change the voices in your head make them like you instead  
So complicated, look happy, you’ll make it  
Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game  
It’s enough, I’ve done all I can think of  
Chased down all my demons, I’ve seen you do the same

Diana hadn’t realized that the entire time she was singing she had her eyes closed, so she opened them towards the song’s conclusion to see her fathers’ eyes teeming with tears. Her Aunt Garcia was a mess, which she could only tell because she’d forgotten to wear waterproof mascara. 

Why do I do that?  
Yeah, oh, oh baby, pretty baby  
Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel  
Like you’re less than fuckin’ perfect  
Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel  
Like you’re nothing, you’re fuckin’ perfect to me, yeah  
You’re perfect, you’re perfect  
Oh pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel  
Like you’re nothin’ you’re fuckin’ perfect to me

As the song came to a close, she stood up, belting out the last few notes as if her life depended on it. The only thing that told her she was done was the thunderous round of applause she received, the tears of her family and everyone else - and Sophie running onto the stage in tears to give her a hug.


	48. A Change in the Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana overhears her fathers arguing over whether or not they should both return to work full time.

“Hey, Roxy girl,” Diana said softly, returning from school after an amazingly long day. Although her course load was college heavy, challenging and enjoyable, it was also exhausting. She was looking forward to taking a nap with her dog. “Wanna nap?” Roxy just cocked her head to the side, panting heavily as her tongue slopped out of the side of her mouth.

Her eyes were heavy with sleep as Roxy followed her into her room and jumped on the bed. She dropped the bag on the floor and collapsed into the bed. Roxy crawled to her side and licked her face incessantly. “Rox,” Diana chuckled. “I wanna sleep. Stop licking my face with your gross doggie kisses.”

Lick.

Apparently, Roxy gave no fucks. Diana lifted her hand onto Roxy’s head and started rubbing her scalp when her fathers returned home. Were…were they yelling at each other? That never happened.

“After the year she’s had, how can you expect both of us to go back to work full-time?” Spencer asked hotly. It took Diana off guard, because her fathers never yelled at each other. It wasn’t so much yelling as an extremely heated argument, but still, it wasn’t like them and it threw Diana for a loop.

Judging by the volumes in which they were speaking, neither one realized that Diana had already gotten home and was listening to their every word. “She’s our child, but she’s not a child anymore, Spencer.”

“I never said she was. You think I don’t know that! But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need us!” From her room, Diana could hear the strain in her Daddy’s voice. Rather than speaking about her, she felt like her Daddy was actually talking about himself. At her age, he wished her grandmother, her namesake, had been lucid enough to be there for him. Diana was luckier than him in that regard - she even still had her grandmother around, although her lucidity came further and farther apart.

Without realizing it, she’d started snapping at the band on her wrist. This kind of arguing was new. She didn’t like new. She didn’t know how to deal with new. Spencer continued his tirade. “Nearly a decade and a half ago, we promised each other that she would never be without one of us and now you’re suggesting that we both go back to work? What happens if she starts getting bullied again? Or she goes to college early and can’t handle the pressure? Or gets her license and then gets into an accident?” His mind was swarming with all of the horrible possibilities. He loved his job. He did want to return to work full-time, but the idea of leaving his daughter without one of them scared the living shit out of him.

Inside, Diana continued to snap rapidly at the tie around her wrist. She hadn’t even realized that tears had begun to form in her eyes until Roxy started to lick at them. “Should I tell them I’m home?” she asked Roxy. Lick. Well, that’s kind of what I expected.

What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to say something? She understood where both of them were coming from, and right now, she honestly wasn’t sure how she felt about them both returning to work full-time. Her eyes got even heavier. Maybe she shouldn’t say anything and just sleep. Maybe her own answer would come to her as she slept. “Come here, Rox,” she said softly, wrapping her arm around her neck. She snuggled her head into Roxy’s neck and closed her eyes.

Meanwhile, outside, Spencer and Luke continued their heated discussion. “Look, Spencer, you don’t think I have a panic attack every time we leave her? Like actually all the time? I freak out. I hate it. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t imagine something happening to her. It’s a constant fear. But we also can’t hover over her for the rest of our lives.”

“You make it sound like we’re overbearing,” he cried, louder than he meant to. “I’ve tried so hard to make sure I’m not that kind of father. I want her to be her own person, but we can also be there for her!”

“Yes!” Luke said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. “We can be there when she needs us. She knows we’re only a phone call away. That if something were wrong, we would drop everything in an instant to make sure was okay, but we also can’t sit around and wait for that to happen. She’ll resent us for it, and we’ll hate the fact that we could’ve been helping other people that really needed us.”

Spencer combed his hands through his hair. How were they supposed to make this kind of decision? Suddenly, he looked at the clock. “Is Di home already?” he asked. She should’ve been home by now. Or had they been arguing while she was home?

Carefully, they tiptoed down the hallway and gently pushed open Diana’s door. “Shit,” he mumbled. “She’s home. And she’s been crying. Did something happen? Or did we do that?” He hated seeing her face tear-stained - and thinking that they might’ve caused it? That felt even worse.  
“I don’t know,” Luke said softly, leaning his head against his husband’s shoulder. “Let her sleep. We should talk to her about this later.”

“Agreed.” They never truly fought. They disagreed. But when they did, they always agreed on two things. Diana came first and she was mature enough to weigh in on decisions that would affect her. “For now, let’s get dinner ready.”

—-

Nearly two hours later, Diana emerged from her room, sleepily wrapped in her blanket like a burrito. “Hey,” she said softly.

“Hey back,” Spencer smiled, kissing her on the forehead. “You hear us before?” When she nodded her head, his heart fell. They always did their best not to have those types of heated conversations in front of her.

Luke came out from the kitchen and kissed her. “We’re sorry. But how do you feel about us going back to work?”

“Umm…” she started. “I’m afraid of you both going back to work full-time, but I if you want to, I want you to. If I need you, I know I can call you. You can’t be there forever.”

When she looked over, Spencer sighed, a proud smile on his face. “But why not? Why can’t I be there?” He wrapped his arms around her and placed his head on her shoulders. “I don’t like it.”

“What?” she laughed. “Me growing up?” He nodded, not moving from his place as Luke laughed.

Diana wrapped the blanket she was buried in around her father too. “I can’t say I’m a fan of it myself. But it has to happen eventually. I think you and Dad did a good enough job with me that I can handle it.”

Spencer wrapped his arms around his daughter’s neck and kissed her forehead again. “Where did the time go?”


	49. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana applies to and gets accepted to colleges.

“Why is this so hard?” Diana screamed at the kitchen table after finally deciding that she was going to apply to colleges close to home. 

Spencer and Luke laughed, cooking dinner while their daughter filled out applications. She felt like high school was holding her back academically and friend-wise, she figured she was stable enough to go to college and maintain the friends she had. 

Arranged on the table were applications for Georgetown University, George Washington University, American University, and the University of District Columbia. “God, I wanna throw up,” she sighed, filling out the last bit she needed for American and the University of District Columbia before moving on to the two that she couldn’t decide between. “I wanna go to Georgetown, but George Washington is great too. Fuck, this sucks.”

Luke bent down and kissed her on top of the head, while Spencer laughed at their daughter’s colorful language - inherited from both of them. “What are doing with your life, Di?” he laughed. “What do you want to do with your life? Have you nailed it down?”

She’d tossed and turned and wavered between subject after subject for years. Working with animals was a passion. Singing was a passion. Science was a passion. She loved everything. That was the problem. But there was one thing she always thought about. She loved medicine and she loved kids. “I want to be a pediatric surgeon,” she said, picking up the Georgetown application and filling it out. “There is no undergraduate requirement to pursue an MD in Pediatric Surgery. I’d like to join the undergraduate program in Human Science, and then do their master’s degree in tumor biology. Then for my MD, I would hopefully,” she said, crossing her fingers and toes and not looking up from the table, “Get admitted to Johns Hopkins.”

“You’ll do it,” Spencer said softly, the confidence in his voice lifting Diana’s very-confused spirits. 

Her essay was written. The SAT’s were done. She’d gotten 10 points below a perfect score. She had three teacher recommendations. The applications were almost filled out. All she needed to do was package everything together and hope for the best - and hope she’d earn a scholarship, because lord know her fathers couldn’t afford Georgetown on FBI salary. Spencer handed her the check for the application fee, $75, and she put everything in the envelope. “Please, please, please, please,” she whispered into the envelope. Now that it was all done, she realized this was truly what she wanted. Diana was very much like her Daddy - she hated not knowing. “Now to play the waiting game,” she muttered, closing all of the envelopes. It would be about two months before she had her answer.

—-

“I hate this!” she screamed, walking into the house toward the end of March still with no answer from Georgetown. The other four schools had returned answers - all said yes, with a full scholarship, which was great, but it wasn’t the one she truly wanted and she was tired of waiting. 

Spencer walked over and hugged her. “Still nothing from Georgetown?”

“No!” she cried, burying her head in her father’s chest. “I don’t like waiting.” Practically every day she’d been looking in the mailbox for a letter. Now it was two months out, and she technically could still have to wait another month. Waiting to figure out where your life was headed was exhausting. 

Luke was still at work. After much deliberation, they decided that once Diana had a couple of friends in college, they would both return to work full time. 

—-

“Oh. My. God. Oh. My. God.” There was the emblem on the front of the envelope. Neither one of her fathers were home yet, so she sat in front of the envelope doing her homework until both of them got home.

“Is that what I think it is?” Spencer asked.

Diana nodded, feeling like she wanted to vomit. The band on her wrist was snapping against her skin. “Well, open it!! Luke exclaimed.

With shaking fingers, she picked up the envelope and started to pull it open. “Dear Ms. Alvez-Reid,” she started, scanning the letter before continuing. “Congratulations on being accepted to the Georgetown School of Nursing and Health Studies’ class of 2040! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!” Before reading the rest of it, she started running around the house and eventually ended up hopping into her fathers’ arms.

“I told you you’d do it,” Spencer said, the tears falling from his eyes as he pulled Luke in for a group hug. “Read the rest of it.”

The tears were staining the paper but she didn’t care. She was too happy to care. “Upon recommendation from the Admissions Committee, we would like to allow you pursue the dual Bachelor’s Degree/Master’s Degree program on a full-scholarship, allowing you to graduate in five years!” The rest of the letter mentioned she would be getting a call from a counselor at the school soon. Considering her unique circumstances, she would need to talk with administration to iron out all the details of her program, which she’d asked for them to meld together even though no such program actually existed.

“Forget dinner at home,” Luke laughed, giving Spencer a kiss as Diana cried happy tears into his chest. “Let’s go out and celebrate! Big, expensive dinner!”

“Can we go to that super amazing steakhouse that we never go to because it’s crazy expensive?” she asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. 

“If anything deserves a steak dinner, it’s this,” Spencer replied. Throughout her 15 years, Spencer and Luke had grown ever prouder of their baby girl. Just when they thought they couldn’t be more proud, she proved them wrong.


	50. One Step At a Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana, Luke and Spencer meet up with a counselor and administrator at Georgetown to discuss her future with the school, as well as her schedule.

“I’m so nervous!” Diana said, practically bouncing out of her seat as she and her fathers drove to Georgetown to meet with a few members of the administration, as well as a counselor that would help her with her schedule. “I kind of wanna throw up,” she laughed. It was a fun, nervous energy, but she was still uneasy. 

Spencer understood. Luke did too, but Spencer also went to college at a young age, so he understood her situation better than most. “You’re going to do amazingly,” he reassured her as they pulled up to the University. 

After losing their way numerous times, they finally found the admissions office. “Hello,” she said demurely, “I’m Diana Alvez-Reid. I’m here to speak to a counselor and some of the administration about starting here in the fall.”

“Oh, hello honey,” the woman said. “I was told to expect the three of you. Stay here for a moment and I’ll go and get your counselor.”

After walking around the Admission’s Office aimlessly for a few minutes, the woman returned with Diana’s counselor in tow. “This is Ms. Rodrigues,” she said, introducing the two. “She’s going to be your academic counselor for the next five years. 

That seemed like such a long time, Diana thought to herself as she extended her hand to Ms. Rodrigues. As Diana walked down the hallway with the counselor toward the administrators she was supposed to meet with, Luke and Spencer followed behind both of them, allowing their daughter to take the lead. “She’s so big already,” Spencer whispered. “How the hell did that happen?”

“I have no idea,” he chuckled. “I can’t believe she’s in college already.” 

“Hello, Dr. Chemin,” Ms. Rodrigues said. “This is Diana Alvez-Reid.”

Excitedly, the administrator held out his hand. “We’re very excited to welcome such a young and accomplished student to our university.” For the next hour or so, they administrator, the counselor and Diana spoke about what her expectation were while she was here. She was supposed to handle between 12 and 15 credits a semester, as well as internships in her later years. In order for her to keep her full scholarship, she needed to maintain a 3.75, which would be difficult, but Diana assured them that she could handle it. “We’ll also need to fill out quite a bit of paperwork because we’re putting together the Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree programs although they don’t exist together.” 

Diana told them she would do whatever it took. She was excited to finally be truly challenged in her academic life. Though her high school teachers had done the best they could, it wasn’t possible for them to give her the kind of targeted work she desired. “What do you hope to pursue after Georgetown, Diana?” Dr. Chemin asked. 

“My goal is to get accepted to Johns Hopkins Medical School and pursue an MD with a specialty in pediatric surgery. I’ve always loved children and medicine is fascinating to me. It’s the one thing I can imagine being interested in for the rest of my life,” she said proudly, remembering what Michael had told her about a year before. He told her to do something that she couldn’t imagine living without - and this was it.

Dr. Chemin extended his hand out to her and she took it, thanking him profusely for accepting her to the university. She would do everything she could to make them proud. Then he went to congratulate Spencer and Luke on raising such a wonderful child. “She’s going to go places.”

“We already knew that,” Spencer said proudly. “Now, does she pick classes?”

“Yes,” Ms. Rodrigues said, walking her back down to her office. “We’re going to get started on your classes as opposed to waiting on the like everyone else…because you’re going into a specialized program. “Have you looked at our courses and what you’d like to pursue for your first semester?”

Spencer and Luke chuckled behind her and she playfully hit them both. Did she? It’s all she’d done the entire week. She was obsessing over which classes she’d get to take. “I’ve looked at the undergraduate and graduate classes. If I’m taking 15 credits, can I take four bachelor’s classes and one master’s degree class?”

“That’s what I would suggest, sweetheart,” she said, sitting down at her desk and opening up the class scheduling system. She handed Diana a list of the courses and told her to make sure she picked carefully. But the end of the next hour, Diana had picked four undergraduate classes, human biology I, health promotion and disease prevention, introduction to behavioral science and introduction to genetics, as well as one graduate class, biomedical informatics.

“Sounds interesting,” Spencer muttered to his husband.

Luke scoffed. “Sounds petrifying.” He was so proud of Diana, but dammit if that didn’t sound intimidating. “But she’ll do it. She’s stronger than both of us put together.”

“True story,” Spencer said as he placed his hand on Luke’s knee. “Ready?” Diana was all done picking out classes and she was ready to go for next season. Her fathers had decided that once she got her license, or if she had a friend or two that didn’t mind driving her home in the afternoons, then they’d return to work full time. 

As she practically skipped out of the University, they told her again how proud they were of her and how astounded they were that she had grown up so fast. “Soon I’ll be driving,” she said happily. “And then I’ll dye my hair, and get a tattoo and before you know it I’ll be a world-famous, kick ass, bright blue haired doctor with cool tattoos.”

“Please don’t grow up too fast,” Luke laughed, while Spencer had a mini heart attack. “I don’t think either of us can handle that just yet. One step at a time.”


	51. Make Your Own Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana isn't asked to her high school dance. Instead of not going, she asks her two single friends, Emma and Monique, to go with her.

Still.

She still hadn’t been asked. 

Emma snapped her fingers in front of her face. “You okay, babe?”

“No,” Diana said softly. The dance was barely two weeks away and she still hadn’t been asked.

Emma pulled her in by the shoulder. “School dances are stupid.” She knew exactly what she was worried about. Emma didn’t have to worry because she wasn’t going. 

“I know,” Diana replied, “But it’s not about what I think, it’s about how I’m seen by everyone else. Everyone’s going to look at me like I’m the loser that didn’t get asked. Because I didn’t. And if I don’t, then I can’t go and be the only single person. I hate this.” 

Emma didn’t really understand, because she thought dances were stupid, but she felt bad for Diana. She tried to reassure her friend that someone was going to come along and ask her, but nothing seemed to help.

—–

Spencer and Luke had taken the day off and were woken up by the sound of the door slamming as Diana came home from school. “Woah,” Luke said, shooting up from his nap. “What was that about?”

As the two walked outside, they were met with the picture of Diana pouting at the dining room table. “What’s wrong, honey?” Spencer asked.

“There’s only two days until the big dance and no one asked me.” Spencer’s heartstrings tugged for her. He knew how that felt - to be the only one not included in mainstream. It hurt to feel different sometimes, and although his daughter had been much better off than he had, he knew it still hurt. “Why hasn’t anyone asked me?”

There were so many reasons why. But the prevailing one was the fatherly one that burst out of him. “Because they’re all stupid,” he said with a smile. “Anyone who wouldn’t ask you out is dumb.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my dad,” she returned with a laugh. 

“And because it’s true.” Luke had piped up from the background. He never had those issues as a teenager, but from what Spencer had told him, to not be included like everyone else was hell. “What about going with Emma? Go as single ladies.”

“Emma thinks dances are stupid,” Diana laughed. “And I mean, I agree, but it still feels weird not to be included.”

Spencer sat down and wrapped his arms around his daughter’s shoulder. “I know, but you have an up on me at that point.”

“What’s that?” 

“You have friends.” He laughed. His childhood was long gone. It didn’t sting anymore. At least not directly. It made him sad for Diana, but no longer for himself. “Dad’s right. Emma might think they’re stupid, but for you, I’m sure she’d go. What about Monique? She’s single too, right? All three of you should go together. Make your own party.”

“Maybe,” she said, shrugging off the idea. She didn’t even have anything to wear. She only had a couple of sundresses. “But I don’t have anything to wear.”

“We’ll go out and get you something if you want,” Luke said. Diana pulled out her phone, flipping it through her fingers a few times before messaging Emma and Monique. 

Hey ladies. I have no date to the dance, but I really wanna go. You wanna go the three of us?  
Minutes later, she got a reply from Monique. She said yes. Emma waited a few minutes to respond. 

E: You really want me to go?

D: Please?

E: -_- Fine. You know I love you if I’m going to this.

D: I do. I love you too.  
“They said they’d go,” Diana said with a smile. “I need something to wear.”

“Then let’s go.”

—–

Nearly three hours later, Diana had found herself a dress. Thankfully it fit off the rack. It was an off-the-shoulder, dark red satin dress the slunk all the way to the floor. “I feel regal,” she said, twirling around in front of her fathers.

“And you look like it, my queen,” Luke said, taking Diana’s hand and kissing it. Spencer just looked on as the two danced around the area near the dressing room. After a short little dance, Diana got dressed again and the dress was paid for.

She felt a little guilty that Emma didn’t really want to go, but she was grateful. “I hope Monique and I can get Emma to have a good time.”

“I’m sure you will,” Spencer said. “Once you start dancing, you’ll have a great time. Especially because you have way more rhythm than me.”

“Daddy,” she laughed, “I love you, but everyone has more rhythm than you.”

Lovingly, he cut his eyes at his daughter. “Don’t sass your father.”

—–

Two days later, Emma, Diana and Monique met up dressed up to the nines at Diana’s house. Spencer and Luke took pictures. Well, Luke took the pictures while Spencer stood in the background and thanked God his daughter had her friends. She looked so happy. 

He loved his mother, but his childhood had for the most part been anything but happy. The fact that he was able to be there for his daughter, have a loving relationship with his husband, and raise Diana to be the amazing young woman she was, was without a doubt a source of pride for him now. He was the father he always imagined himself to be. 

When Luke was finally done taking pictures, after putting the girls in every conceivable position, they got ready to leave. As she walked out the door, they both waved goodbye, telling her to check in during the night and be home by midnight. Spencer leaned into Luke’s embrace. “Our little princess isn’t so little anymore.”


	52. Defy Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana begs her fathers to allow her to dye her purple, blue and green. But she doesn't really need to do that much convincing.

For months, Diana had had a picture on her phone of what she wanted her hair to look like. She saw a picture of a girl that looked a lot like her with absolutely gorgeous green, purple and blue hair. It was all waved throughout her entire head of hair and it was positively amazing. Since then, she’d been obsessed.

In the years since her fathers grew up, having crazy-colored hair wasn’t so unusual, but there were still people who looked down on those with wild hair. It was fucking stupid. Diana was a certified genius. Just like her Daddy. Her hair color did nothing to lessen that. It was only about a month earlier that she’d turned 15, so she wasn’t sure if her fathers were going to let her dye it, but she was obsessed, so she had to try.

When she walked in the front door, she made sure she had her entire speech planned. She’d earned this. She was going to college. She made great decisions and was grown up enough to make this decision; it was nothing in comparison to deciding on Georgetown and she’d already done that. It was her hair anyway. All of it was floating around in her head. “How was school, baby?” Luke asked. Spencer would be home soon, but he was the one working later today. Maybe she should wait until they both got home. Screw it. She was too excited and nervous. 

“School was pretty boring,” she laughed. “I can’t wait to start at Georgetown. I need more challenging classes.”

Luke chuckled. “Just like your Daddy,” he laughed. “I don’t understand, but I can’t wait for you to start either. If we haven’t said it enough, we are amazingly proud of you.”

She smiled warmly. Nearly every day they told her how proud they were of her. But she never got tired of hearing it. “Thank you, Dad. Ummm…I have a question for you.”

“What is that look?” he asked. Diana had her arms tucked behind her back and she was shifting back and forth.

Before he could get a word in edgewise, Diana launched into lengthy exposition about her hair. “See this picture, right here,” she started, bringing out her phone and showing her Dad the picture she’d been coveting for so many months. “It’s this amazing mermaid hair. I really wanna do it on my own hair. Like, I know it’s crazy colors and there are still people that make this dumb connection that your hair and your intelligence are somehow linked, but I don’t care. I want cool hair and I wanna be a doctor, so can I please, please, please get my hair dyed?” She clasped her hands in front of her face and hopped up and down. “PUH-LEASE!”

Snorting, Luke brought his arm up around Diana’s neck and brought her in for a hug. “You had that whole thing planned, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “Can I please?”

“I have to ask Daddy if he’s okay with it too, but I don’t see why he would care.”

Diana hopped up and down excitedly, waiting patiently for her Daddy to get home so that he could confirm. While she waited, she started her homework and texted Emma, saying she was most likely going to get awesome, cool hair soon. The second Spencer walked in the door, Diana ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug she’d probably given in recent memory. “What do you want?” Spencer laughed. “I can tell when you want something.”

“I wanna dye my hair,” she said quickly, pulling out the phone yet again to show him the picture. “Like this. I know I’m a little young, but I really wanna dye it. And look at the time stamp. I’ve been thinking about this for months, so it’s not an impulsive decision. Dad said he didn’t mind, but he wanted to check with you first. So can I please-y, please, please dye my hair?”

Spencer kissed her forehead and laughed - the exuberance on her face was contagious. “Yes,” he said. “It’s going to cost a lot, but considering you got a full-ride to Georgetown, I think Dad and I can swing for the hair.”

“Yes!” she screamed. “I’m going to be an awesome, purple, blue and green haired doctor!”

Spencer laughed. When he and Luke were younger, people, and specifically employers, had a much bigger issue with someone’s hair being dyed, as if somehow that made a damn difference when it came to competence. It had lessened in the years since their daughter had grown up, but there were still those that held faulty assumptions. But they had no issues with it. “Yes you are. You’ll do what you always do, prove the haters wrong and defy expectation. When do you want to get it done?”

“It’s going to take a few trips to get the color out of my hair so the craziness can be put in, but can I start this weekend?”

With a nod of their heads, Diana started running around the house again. It reminded them of when she was a kid, running around with Thumper in hand. 

—-

Nearly two weeks later, Diana had been to the salon quite a few times, and today was the day the color went in. Her stylist had turned her around while she blew out her hair, so she hadn’t seen it yet. When she turned Diana around, Diana almost cried. “It’s so amazing!” She combed her hands through her hair and gave her stylist a hug before paying with a credit card given to her by her fathers for occasions such as this.

When she walked in the door, her father’s mouths dropped. “You look gorgeous, Di,” Spencer said as he played with her hair. 

Luke came out from the bathroom and exclaimed. “Our very own mermaid!

At 15, she was no longer their little princess, but their beautiful, badass, mermaid queen.


	53. Safe to Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana is tired of wondering what her sexuality is, so she asks her best friend, Emma, to kiss her. Then she tells her fathers about her sexuality.

With all of the college planning, Diana hadn’t had a chance to hang out with Emma in a while, so after school, the two made their way to Emma’s house. “I have something I have to tell you,” Emma said proudly. “And you’re the first person I’m going to tell because I know you won’t care and you’ll love me no matter what.”

“Absolutely,” Diana replied, looping her arm in her best friend’s.

Emma turned to her and said she was a little scared to tell her parents, especially her father, but Diana was always there for her. “I’m a lesbian.” Diana smiled. That was something she had thought for a while. Emma had a few guy friends, but had never shown an interest in them at all, but she had seen the way her friend looked at some of the girls in school. 

“You’re my babe,” Diana said. “I figured you’d tell me in time. But I had a feeling.” When she saw the smile on her best friend’s face, she couldn’t help but laugh. “How do you feel? Lighter?”

“A little bit, yea,” she laughed as she opened the door to her house. As they made their way into her room to start their homework, Diana felt a little uneasy. She had always liked boys, but she honestly didn’t know whether or not she liked girls. Maybe…

“Hey, Emma?”

“What’s up, babe?”

“Kiss me.”

“What?” Emma snapped her head around and laughed.

Diana dropped her bag on the floor and turned toward Emma. “I know I like guys. I always have. But I don’t know if I like girls. So…kiss me. Then I can figure it out.”

“You sure?” she asked with a smile. She couldn’t deny she’d always thought her bestie was beautiful and she already loved her, though not in that way. When Diana nodded, she walked up to her and placed her hand around Diana’s back. 

At first, the kiss was tentative. Diana’s staggered breath hung between them before she pressed her lips to Emma’s again. It was different than her kiss with Michael, but just as amazing. Diana, the shorter of the two, found herself leaning into Emma’s embrace as she ran her lips over Emma’s chin. After a few minutes of sweet, heated and passionate kisses, they pulled away from each other. “I think it’s safe to say you like girls too, sweets,” Emma laughed.

“I guess I do,” she said. “You have nice lips by the way.”

“Right back at you, babe.” They both picked up their bags and pulled out their homework. “You look a little lighter now,” she said. “Glad you know?”

“Yea,” she sighed. “I didn’t realize how much not knowing was bothering me until now. But yea, I feel better. Also, you really should ask Alicia out, because you can’t stop staring at her butt.”

“But what if she doesn’t like me,” Emma whined. “I hate rejection.”

Diana had overheard Alicia talking about Emma, so she happened to know that that wouldn’t happen. “If she rejected you, she’d be an idiot.”

For the next couple of hours, the two did their homework while talking about whatever random crap happened to be on their minds. Spencer and Luke would be home soon, so Diana decided to walk home. “Just one more time so I can make sure,” Diana laughed, pulling Emma in by the back of the neck. Their lips met again, and she was definitely sure this time. 

“You just wanted an excuse to kiss me,” Emma laughed. “I see how it is.”

“Love you, Emma.”

“Love you, too, Di. See you tomorrow.”

—-

By the time Diana walked home, Spencer and Luke were pulling up. “What happened at school today?” Spencer asked, noticing the smile on his daughter’s face. 

Luke was returning from errands, and he too, noticed that Diana seemed carefree. “What’s up?”

“I kissed Emma,” she said. Both men looked toward her in surprise, not because of her sexuality, but because it was Emma she had kissed. 

“What brought that on?” Luke laughed.

Diana opened the door, considering Luke had his hands full with grocery bags. “I’ve known I’ve liked guys for a while because of Michael, but I never knew whether or not I liked girls, and I got tired of not knowing, so when we got to her house before, I told her to kiss me, so I could figure it out. She did, and I have.” Diana flashed them a huge smile. 

“So you’re bisexual,” Spencer said, kissing her on the forehead. “Sounds like us.”

Spencer gave his husband a peck on the lips. “Now, I do need to warn you that both men and women can break hearts, so be careful, stay safe, use condoms, all that stuff you don’t want to hear me say, and if anything happens ever, please come talk to us.”

“Of course, Daddy,” she laughed, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I still have a little homework to do for Mrs. Ryan, so I’m gonna go inside for a little quiet until dinner is ready.”

“Sounds good, baby.” Luke started cooking dinner, while Spencer unloaded the groceries, as was their routine now. Luke was the cook. Spencer sucked at it. “She really did turn out just like us,” he laughed.


	54. A Big, New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana starts college at Georgetown and meets to friends, Sadie and Tara. Luke and birth mother, Kailanni, drive her to classes, and Spencer picks her up.

“Nervous?” Luke asked his daughter. Spencer was the one working full-time this week, so Luke was the one driving Diana to her first day of college. Diana shook her head. She wasn’t nervous. She was excited. “We’re making a pit-stop on the way.” It was a surprise. Diana had no clue what was happening, but she was excited to get to school. She’d already met a few new people at orientation.

As they pulled up to the house, Diana’s face lit up. “Considering Daddy and I couldn’t take you in, I decided to see if Kailanni wanted to join us.”

“B-mama!” Diana said excitedly as Kailanni hopped in the back seat. For years now, she’d called Kailanni that, for birth mother. She felt weird calling her Kailanni, or Ms. Carter, so B-Mama it was. 

Kailanni couldn’t believe the baby she’d had all those years ago was going to college. “Hello, my sweet girl.” On the way, the two spoke about Diana’s classes, her new hair that she was still utterly obsessed with, her half-brothers, Javari and Tamonte. Javari had just graduated college and was in his first year of law school. Tamonte was in his second year at Georgetown. “Tamonte already said he’d drive you to class if you need,” Kailanni said.

Luke spoke up from the backseat. “That would be amazing. Tell Tamonte thank you so much.”

“Sweet!” Diana said. When they pulled into the parking lot, Diana got out of the car and gave Kailanni a hug. “Thanks so much for coming, B-Mama.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, sweet pea. You won’t need it, but good luck anyway.” After letting her go, she turned to look and held tight. She wasn’t nervous before, but now that she was ready to actually leave, she was a little scared.

“Love you, Dad,” she said.

As the two of three proud parents waved goodbye, they talked about how she could’ve possibly grown up so fast. 

—-

Today, she had three classes and she’d been lucky enough to get them first thing in morning. As the thought ran through her head, she chuckled. Her Daddy was NOT a morning person, so he thought she was insane when she said she scheduled her classes so they’d done before 1 in the afternoon. In that respect, she took after her Dad. Luke was definitely a morning person. 

Walking into her first class, health promotion and disease prevention, she sat between two girls that looked like they were also a little nervous. For the most part, everyone looked really nice, but she did stay away from one side of the classroom. “Hey, baby,” one of the guys said from across the room. Ew. She put him in his place immediately. 

“I’m 15, dude. Jailbait.” He turned away, as if her being underage was the only thing wrong with his behavior. “You might not wanna talk to any woman you just meet like that, because you’re not going to get anywhere.” The rest of her classmates laughed just as the professor walked in. Apparently, there was a tool in every class.

The class was interesting, a little more on the basic side, but she was actually learning things she didn’t already know, which for her was amazing. Apparently, the two girls she sat between, Sadie and Tara, were also taking the next two classes, so they introduced themselves as they walked. Both were 18, just starting, and hoping to become doctors as well. Tara wanted to be a heart surgeon and Sadie hoped to be a general practitioner. 

They were fascinated by the fact that she was 15 and starting college. Diana didn’t miss a chance to tell them of her fathers, one of whom had an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory and the ability to read 20,000 words per minute. “He’s not my bio-dad, but I think I ended up with his brain anyway.” Sadie and Tara were beyond interested in her fathers’ jobs, so Diana regaled them with stories as their professor for the next class made his way in. 

“Today has flown by,” Diana said. “I was afraid it was going to drag because I wasn’t going to get to know anybody.”

“Us too,” Sadie said. They came from the same high school and were the best of friends, so they stuck together. “So we’ll see you on Wednesday for health promotion?”

“Yup!” Diana gave both girls a quick hug before hopping into the car with Spencer, who’d switched off in the middle of the day with Luke, so that both of them could be there for part of her first day.

Spencer enveloped her in a hug and excitedly started asking her about her first day. “It was awesome,” she said, snapping her seatbelt into the buckle. “The classes are really interesting, not super challenging I don’t think, at least for this year, but I am actually learning things I didn’t already know. And I met two other girls, both 18, named Sadie and Tara, and they want to be doctors too. All in all, it was an awesome first day. Hopefully, the next five years go just as smoothly.”

Her father chuckled, knowing exactly what college at such a young age was like. Grateful would be the least of the words he’d use if his daughter didn’t do through the same types of things he did. She’d gotten rid of that possibility some by staying in high school later than he did. “I’m sure you’ll do amazingly,” he said with a smile. “Have homework for tonight?”

“Just some reading,” she said. “I can’t wait until I have internships and stuff.”

Spencer couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm. He completely understood, but so far, she’d had a great childhood, and he didn’t want her to grow up too fast. “Take your time,” he said. “It’ll get there. Savor the moments while they last.” The wistful nature of his voice made Diana ask him if he was okay. “Yea,” he said, “It’s just you need to savor the mundane or you’ll look back and regret it.”

“Did you not pay enough attention?” she asked playfully.

As he pulled up to a stoplight, he smiled at her. “Quite the opposite actually. I made sure to take in the smallest of moments. Watching you play in mud puddles. Taking pictures when you stuck your hand in the batter of the cake your father was trying to make you, instead of actually getting you to stop because I thought that would be more fun. Sitting back and making sure that you didn’t drown the first time we let you take a bath by yourself. All of those things may seem inconsequential, but they make me smile. And the same kind of thinking can be applied to college. Don’t wish it all away. Take each moment for what it is.”

“I’ll try,” she said softly, realizing just how true the sentiment was. She was constantly wishing for the things that were to come instead of reveling in the moment. “So can I ramble all about the boring shit that no one else cares about from my genetics class?” Sadie and Tara found genetics boring, but Diana actually enjoyed it - sometimes the only one that understood was her Daddy. 

As they made their way into the house, Spencer wrapped his arm around his daughter’s shoulder. “Absolutely,” he said with a smile. “There’s nothing I want more.”


	55. Blow Us All Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Spencer reminisce over scrapbooks of Diana's photos.

“Drown it in sugar!” Spencer screamed from the bedroom. He was neck deep in old pictures and scrapbooks and decided to bring out some of the scrapbooks that Garcia had made for them over the years. 

Luke couldn’t contain his laughter as he fixed up his husband’s coffee as he always had. “Baby, we’ve been married for nearly 20 years! I know what you take in your coffee!” Spencer smiled as he carried as many items as he could out to the couch. It was habit telling people his coffee order. After all these years, Luke was the only one that put just the perfect amount of sugar in it. 

Diana only had two classes today, so they were going to go out and look at cars. Under the guise of Luke needing a new car. Considering Diana had earned a full ride to Georgetown, Spencer and Luke wanted to look into buying a car for Diana. Nothing super extravagant, but enough to get her to and from college without having to rely on anyone else. As Spencer came out with scrapbooks in hand, Luke laughed and walked over with their coffees. “Any particular reason?” Luke asked, gesturing to the scrapbooks. 

“They’ve just been sitting there,” he replied. “Garcia put so much work into them. We should look at them more often.” As they both sipped at their coffee, Luke laid his head on Spencer’s shoulder while he flipped through the pages of Diana’s first-year scrapbook. They hadn’t looked at it in years. “You think we’ve done enough?” Spencer asked, swallowing the lump in his throat. He always worried. Always. That they weren’t doing enough for her. 

Luke pushed up off the couch to face him. “Do you remember what I said when we first found out Kailanni was pregnant?” he asked.

Spencer remembered everything. Luke had said quite a lot. Before Diana was even born both of them had their nervous breakdowns that they weren’t going to be able to be good enough for their beloved daughter. During Spencer’s meltdown, Luke calmed him. “I told you that as long as we loved her with everything we had, the rest of it would work itself out.”

Luke watched as Spencer took a deep breath. “That’s not all you said to me. If I remember correctly, and I know I do, you quoted Hamilton and I was very happy about it.”

“Oh, man, I did,” he laughed. “And it still stands. If this child shares a fraction of your smile, or a fragment of your mind, that would be enough. I should tell Diana you said that. She’d be ecstatic.” 

For another few moments, they looked through the baby book before picking out one from her most recent year. Garcia made it a tradition to make the three of them a family scrapbook as a Christmas present. “I’d say we did a pretty good job,” Luke sighed happily, his hands clasping closer around his cup of coffee. “She’s got my smile.” He leaned back, showing Spencer the biggest, cheesiest smile he could. “And your brain.”

“I think her brain is going to outrank mine,” Spencer said truthfully. “She is infinitely wiser than I ever was at the age, despite all that I knew.” At 15, Spencer was still naive to the ways of the world and completely unsure of himself. Diana knew about the good and bad that existed in the world. She wasn’t naive. And for the most part, as much as any human being could, she knew where she stood in the world and who she was. “Now that I think about it, I’d say we did a great job. Should we tell her why we’re going to look for cars? Like, the truth?”

“No!” Luke said. “We want it to be a surprise. She’s gonna flip a shit.”

Spencer snorted. “I have heard you say flip a shit in years.”

After looking through another couple of scrapbooks, Luke realized there was another Hamilton quote that applied to their baby girl. “You know there’s another quote from Hamilton that applies to her.”

“Blow us all away?” Spencer said, raising his eyebrow toward his husband. Luke pulled him up off the couch and planted a kiss on his lips before they started on some cooking and cleaning that needed to be done.

“That’s the one!”

Before Diana got home from class (Tamonte would be driving her home today), they wanted to get some housework done and start dinner. But just as she was about to get home, they got distracted with each other and started kissing in the kitchen. They didn’t even hear Diana come in. “Am I interrupting something?” she laughed. “I mean, I can come back later.”

“Don’t be a smartass,” Spencer said, wrapping his arms around her head and clutching her to his chest. “That’s my job.”

Luke rolled his eyes in Diana’s direction. “That definitely is his job,” he said, dodging out of the way when Spencer stretched out his arm to punch his husband. “Ready to go look at cars?” he asked. “Dinner is in the crockpot, so it’ll be done by the time we get home.”

“Let me just drop off my book bag and I’ll be ready to go. I’m gonna bring my human biology textbook though, so I can get some reading done.” 

After Diana dropped her stuff off in her room, Luke remembered what they wanted to tell her earlier. “Have we ever told you that we’ve quoted Hamilton to each other in regards to you?”

Diana’s eyes widened in amazement. “Yesssssss. That’s amazing.”


	56. How Are You Driving Already?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since it's Spencer's day off, he takes the time to prepare Diana for her driving test.

Spencer’s car was on the verge of death, but once it died, Diana would be driving anyway, which meant that Luke and Spencer would be driving into work together, so they didn’t need two cars. Hopefully, it would last long enough for them to teach her how to drive though. “You almost ready?” Spencer called from the living room. Although he wasn’t technically working, he was on call with Luke for occasional input. The case they were working was time critical. “You ready to kill me?”

“Shut up!” Diana screamed from her room. “It was an accident!” Spencer couldn’t contain his laughter, falling backwards onto the couch as he waited for Diana to emerge from her room. He was never going to let her live that down. Last week was the first time she’d ever been in the driver’s seat and barely five feet down the driveway, she plowed the back of Spencer’s car into a garbage can. It was a mistake anyone could make their first time behind the wheel, or their 5000th; he’d done it too. But Diana had freaked out. “I didn’t mean it,” she pouted as she stepped out of her room, her hands shaking slightly at the prospect of getting in the car again.

Spencer got up from the couch and hugged her. “Baby, it’s okay. I’m just joking with you. I’ll stop.” He looked down at her and realized she was actually really nervous. “It was an honest accident. You’ll get it.” 

“Will I?” she asked worriedly. “Some people never learn how to drive. What if I can’t be taught?”

“You?” Spencer laughed. “My child? Can’t be taught? No way. Don’t worry, I didn’t learn to drive until I was 18, although at the time Grandma Diana said I looked about 12.”

Diana giggled at that, a little bit of the tension easing away. “We’re only going to do the side streets by us today, right? No highways?”

Vehemently, Spencer shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “Let’s get you comfortable near the house first and then we’ll worry about the highways.”

As they got out to the car, Spencer had to swallow his nervousness. He didn’t want to make her anymore anxious than she already was. “Okay, what do you do first?”

“Adjust the mirrors and the seat. Make sure everything is comfortable.” She did as he’d instructed early last week and then took a deep breathe. “Now I put my foot on the break and put it in reverse?”

Spencer nodded, doing his best to let her take the lead and just correct her if she happened to be on the wrong path. As soon as she put the car in the reverse, she look in the rearview mirror and around her multiple times, making sure she wouldn’t hit a garbage can again. Slowly but surely, she backed out of the driveway, cutting the wheel when it was necessary to have her in the middle of the street. “Now put it in drive?” Again, he nodded. 

Diana was very much like him. She always doubted herself until she started. Once she took a few deep breaths and began, she excelled at whatever she did. Overcoming her nerves was another big obstacle, but she seemed to be fine. “You’re going to want to be overly cautiously for quite a while,” he said, after telling her to turn around the corner. “Look at every stop sign. Stop sooner than you think you need to. Eventually, those things will just happen and you won’t have to think about it. That’s why I would suggest not driving with anyone else in the car until you are really comfortable behind the wheel. Otherwise, you’ll get distracted talking to people.”

“Okay,” she said. “Can we try and do the parallel parking while no one is around because that’s the part of the driving test I’m freaking out about most?”

That was always the hardest part. Judging the depth of a car was easier said than done. “Find a spot you think would work and stop even with the front car,” he said. He had this down to a science, as he did with most things in his life. “If the cars are different lengths, do your best to line up the back of your car with the back of their car.” 

With shaking hands, she did as she was told. “Now what? Break it down into teeny tiny pieces because I hate this.”

Spencer chuckled at his daughter’s stark nature. She definitely got that from both he and Luke. “While you’re stopped, cut the wheel all the way to the right. Don’t move while you do this.” Next up was turning around to look behind her and slowly backing up, which she did amazingly carefully. 

As the car was moving she asked for her next step. “Take it slow. You stop backing up when the right-front corner of the car behind you is directly in line with the middle of your rear window.” When she stopped, she looked back.

“That good?”

Spencer leaned back to check. “Perfect. Now don’t move and cut the wheel back to the middle starting position. Back up slowly and when your car barely clears the car in front of you, stop again.” She did as she was told.

“Am I almost done? Why does this take so long?” she cried. 

“You’re almost there,” he laughed. “Turn the wheel all the way to the left. Stay stopped. Now, keep backing and don’t move the wheel from its position.” Once she was in, he told her to stop and look around. “How does that look?”

She stopped, put the car in park and then ran around the car. “I did it!” she screamed. “Are you or Dad allowed to sit in the back of the car while I take the test?” She knew the answer was no, but she sat there hopeful anyway. 

Spencer stepped out of the car and gave her a hug. “We’re going to drill this over and over again until you start parallel parking in your sleep. You’ll be fine.” With a kiss, he pointed her back to the driver’s seat. “Now, let’s get out of here and back home.”

“Do you think you can tell Dad that I didn’t kill you?” she laughed as she pulled out of the spot. “Because he keeps telling me that he’s never getting in the car with me.”

Luke was a tease. That Spencer knew. “I’ll tell him to suck it up and get in the car,” he laughed. “I promise. And you won’t kill him. You’re fine. You can do this. I think he’s just stunned that you’re already driving. You were the size of a football yesterday, so I don’t understand.”


	57. Double Date Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and new girlfriend, Malin, go out on a double date with Diana's bestie, Emma, and her new girlfriend, Alicia.

“Okay, so where are you and Malin going?” Luke asked. As a profiler, he and Spencer feared the worst pretty much all the time. But they also didn’t want their worries to get in the way of Diana having a life, so every time she went out, they needed to know where, for about how long, and with whom she was going.

They were going to be gone nearly the whole day. “I’ll be home for dinner, but with school I barely get to date my girl so we wanna spend the whole day at the park. Emma and Alicia are coming too.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Spencer said. “Now what is the code word if something ever happens to you? 

When Kate Callahan had worked for the BAU more than 20 years earlier, she had a code word, pepper, with her niece, and it had saved her life, so when Diana came to a point in her life where that kind of thing might be necessary, they decided to implement the same idea.

“PB CUP,” she said, smiling at them and giving them a thumbs up. They all tried to think of something she could easily remember and would make sense to the three of them. “If anyone comes near me or Malin, I will kick them in the nuts and run like hell.” 

Luke laughed, coming up to his daughter’s side and giving her a kiss on the top of the head. “That’s my girl,” he said. “Have fun with Malin today.” 

“I will,” she said, heading toward the door. “Love you, Dad! Love you, Daddy!”

Simultaneously, they screamed back at her. “Love you too!”

—

“Hey, sexy,” Malin said, as Diana walked up to her side. The two shared their love for crazy hair; Malin’s was still electric blue, and now Diana had her mermaid hair. They were curtained by the crazy swirl of colors as Diana’s lips touched Malin’s. Emma ran up behind Diana, poking her in the shoulder before jumping into Alicia’s arms. After nearly a year of pining after Alicia, Emma had finally told her how she felt. 

Malin and Diana were practically making out in the middle of the park, but were interrupted, bursting into a fit of laughter when they opened their eyes and realized that Alicia and Emma were standing on either side of them just staring. “Want a show?” Malin asked. “Because I’m sure we could give you a good one.”

Emma linked her arm in Alicia’s and Malin did the same with Diana before they started walking around the lake. It was a beautiful day. Just cool enough for a sweater, but not cold. Malin and Diana had traded sweatshirts, so they were wearing each other’s clothes. As they began to walk, a breeze whipped up from the lake, bringing a chill through Diana’s body. She cuddled into Malin’s embrace, wrapping her arms around her torso while Malin unzipped the hoodie and wrapped one side around Diana.

“Alicia has the right idea,” Diana laughed. As the shorter of Emma and Alicia, Alicia had decided that the way to travel was by way of a piggyback ride, which was amazing for Emma because Alicia had her head nestled in the crook of her neck.

Immediately, Malin pushed Diana behind her back and latched onto her legs. “I’m always up for giving piggyback rides,” she said as Diana jumped on her back. Once Diana was situated, she ran as fast as she could, which considering she had an person on her back was quite fast. Malin was insanely strong. Emma tried to keep up, laughing as Alicia started to weigh her down and they fell to the ground. “Turn around,” Diana said. When they turned, they saw Emma and Alicia making out on the ground. “Let’s go join them,” she laughed. “Looks like fun.”

“Should all four of us makeout?” Malin laughed. “Or should we just chill next to them?” Knowing Malin, she wouldn’t have a problem with either.

“I mean, I’d be fine with either,” Diana said, hopping off Malin’s back and falling to the ground. Malin walked around the other side of her, coming down so she was kissing Diana upside down. “You know I’ve kissed her before,” she said, pointing to Emma.

“Really?’ she asked. “Why didn’t that happen?” She was alluding to a relationship between the two, which they had talked about, but decided against.

Emma pulled her lips away from Alicia’s for two seconds, but Alicia still planted a kiss on Emma’s cheek. “Well, we talked about it. Because she wasn’t sure if she was bisexual, so she asked me to kiss her, and I did. She’s got nice lips, right?” Malin laughed, enthusiastically nodding her head. “Anyway, we both decided that we’re the type of people that probably can’t remain friends with our exes, and if we ever broke up, I wouldn’t want to risk losing her. She’s my bae. So we decided against dating. Although, whoever ends up with you, will be one of the luckiest man or woman in the universe.”

“Aw, thank you, babe,” Diana said. Both Malin and Alicia made a fake gagging noise and then pulled their respective ladies up off the grass. “Ready to continue walking? I wanna take pictures.” 

They continued around the lake and eventually found a place with a tiny, baby waterfall so they decided to take a ton of pictures in front of it. “We need pictures in combinations of all of us,” Alicia said. Over the course of the next hour, the four girls took pictures in every combination imaginable. Some were smiling, some were kissing, some were making stupid, weird faces, but all of them were fun. A few of the other people in the park that passed them even made comments on how cute they all were together. Diana and Malin did get a couple of looks for the hair, to which both responded with a middle finger.

Malin looked down at her watch. “Alright, I think we have to get going. I know you have dinner with your dads and you have to study for your genetics test. You two,” she laughed, pointing to Emma and Alicia, who were still all over each other, “probably have to go back to Emma’s place and do dirty things together, and I have band practice.” The one thing Malin wanted in life was to play music. She’d do anything to get there, and no matter whether they were together or not, Diana knew she’d get there one day.

As they walked back toward the entrance to the park, all was quiet. Diana and Emma leaned into their respective girlfriends, hands intertwined as they scrolled through the pictures they took during the day. Malin was the oldest of the four, so she drove Emma and Alicia home before stopping at Diana’s house. “Have fun at practice, okay,” Diana said, leaning into the driver’s seat window to give Malin a kiss.

“I will babe,” she replied. “I’ll call you later?”

“Absolutely!” When she turned around, Spencer was already there, door wide open with the smell of chicken and pasta wafting from the house.

“Have fun today?”

“Yes,” she said happily. “It was a perfect day.”


	58. A Weekend Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Diana's sweet 16, her dads take her, Malin, Emma and Alicia away for the weekend to a cabin they rented years earlier for their anniversary.

Getting six people ready to leave at the same time was an almost impossible task, but given their work as profilers, Luke and Spencer dealt with the impossible on a day-to-day basis. “Are you all ready?” Luke screamed from the kitchen. “We have a five-hour drive. Let’s move! Move! Move!”

“Okay, drill sergeant,” Spencer said, clapping his husband on the shoulder. “Chill. If we get there a little later than intended, we’ll just go to dinner later. Or we’ll cook.”

One would think given how fast Spencer’s mind moved that he would be the one to panic about being late somewhere, but as he got older, he started to care less. Things would happen when they happened. The more laid back of the two, Luke, had gotten more fidgety as they grew older. “Coming!” Diana screamed from the bedroom. Malin had slept over, and Alicia and Emma had been sleeping on the couch. For Diana’s sweet sixteen, instead of a party, like so many her age craved, she asked if they could go away for the weekend. 

About five hours away, a sprawling field held just a few cabins that the owners rented out year round, save for the few months during the year when it was too cold to enjoy. Spencer and Luke had rented the three-bedroom cabin for the weekend. Diana and Malin would have one, Alicia and Emma another, and Luke and Spencer the last. 

Luke and Spencer spent their first anniversary there, and many anniversaries since, so the area held a special place in their hearts. While he was drifting off to years past, all four girls blazed past him and into the car. “Guess we’re ready then,” he laughed.

—-

Nearly six and a half hours later (traffic was a bitch through the city), the six of them arrived at the cabin where they’d be staying the weekend. “This is amazing!” Malin screamed, running up the front steps faster than Diana had ever seen. “You didn’t tell me this place was so gorgeous!” She gave Diana a quick peck on the lips as Spencer came up with the key to cabin, smiling at how at ease Diana seemed. College was hard, and although she was handling it, both her fathers could tell she was a little strained. This would be a great thing for her. 

Once everyone was unpacked and in their rooms, Spencer and Luke popped in to each room to see if they wanted to go for a short walk. Just a ways away from the cabin was a beautiful alcove with a small waterfall and a nice place to eat the sandwiches they’d brought. As soon as they got there, Alicia ran into the water and Emma pushed her under. “You two want food or what?” Luke asked, throwing two sandwiches their way. 

Everyone grabbed sandwiches and Diana ate hers while propped up against Malin’s shoulder. When her fathers weren’t looking, she stole kisses from her girlfriend. Occasionally, Spencer and Luke would look over, but being here was bringing back a flood of fond memories for their first few married years. “Get a room,” Diana sneeze talked, eliciting a giggle from her girlfriend.

Luke picked up a bunch of leaves nearby and threw them in her direction. “We could say the same about you, shut up,” he laughed. Alicia and Emma were eating while standing in the water and occasionally kicking water at each other. After they were finished eating, Emma pushed Alicia into the water and they didn’t leave for nearly an hour, splashing water on the other two sleeping couples when they got out.

“It’s good thing we like you, Alicia,” Spencer said with a tight-lipped smile, opening his heavy eyes as the water ran down his hair and into his eyes. After another hour, they went back to the cabin to get changed. Alicia and Emma ended up falling asleep, exhausted from bugging the rest of them. 

“We’re gonna go out and get some stuff to make dinner and a cake for you,” Luke said as the left. “See you in a little bit.”

Just as they left, Malin came downstairs and grabbed Diana’s hands. “Have I said how much I love your dads?” she asked with a smile. 

Diana shrugged and pulled her girlfriend onto the front porch of the cabin where a swing hung from the ceiling. “They’re kind of awesome. Wanna take a nap out here?”

Malin sat down, pulling Diana into her lap, and there there two slept. 

—-

“Should we go to another store and see if we can find the chocolate cake she likes?” Spencer asked as they approached the house again. 

Luke pulled out his key and walked up the steps, when a flash of red, the color Diana was wearing, caught his eye. After getting Spencer’s attention, he pointed over - they were fast asleep. “I don’t think she’s going to care at all.” Spencer chuckled and brought everything inside, allowing them to sleep while they cooked. It would be a relaxing weekend.


	59. Her Name is Rebecca

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana is surprised with a big gift from her fathers.

The week after Malin, Diana, Alicia, Emma, Spencer and Luke came back from their weekend away to celebrate Diana’s 16th birthday, Diana’s dads had quite the surprise in store. She was in her second semester in college and had gotten straight A’s. Her classes were amazing as she was finally be challenged. And for the most part, with the exception of a few broken curfews with Malin, she was working her ass off. Diana wanted to be a doctor more than anything, and she was going to do it no matter what. 

“She’s not up yet?” Luke asked, leaning forward on the couch to check the clock. It was unlike her to sleep so late, but she also didn’t have class today and her second semester classes were a little more intense than her first few months. “Why won’t she get up?”

Across the way, Spencer laughed, while finishing a puzzle at the dining room table. In his older age, he found himself sitting at the table with his glasses on the bridge of his nose doing puzzles and reading a lot. “She’s tired. She’ll be up soon.” He understood why Luke was excited; he was excited too. 

If Diana hadn’t gotten a full scholarship, they probably wouldn’t have been able to afford it, but since she had, they wanted to buy her a car to allow her to have a little more independence. If she wanted them to drive her to school occasionally anyway, they’d be happy to, but at the times when they couldn’t, her having a car would keep it so she didn’t have to rely on her half-brother or friends for a ride home. 

For months now, they’d been looking into the safest possible cars for their baby girl. The thought of her driving and them not being able to give their lives in the event of a car accident made them both panicky, so they would only get the safest car possible. After looking all over, at a ton of different dealers, they finally settled on a 2035 Hyundai Tucson. It was an IIHS Top Safety Pick, had front crash prevention technology - everything you could possibly want to protect your child but at a fairly affordable price. So after filling out the paperwork the asked for a blue one and Luke had gone out to get it this morning. Spencer had bought a giant bow and placed it on top as soon as he got home. Now they were just waiting for Diana to wake up. “So sleepy,” she said, dragging her feet across the floor with the blanket wrapped around her. 

“Woah, spitting image of you, babe,” Luke said. The picture was completed when Diana walked near the couch and fell across her Dad’s lap. “Why are you so tired?”

“It’s just…classes are killer,” she said, noticing that her Daddy, who was definitely not a morning person was wide awake, sitting at the table and smiling brightly over a cup of coffee. “Daddy, you hate mornings…like me. Why are you so happy this morning?”

Spencer got up from the table and grabbed a cup of coffee that he had made a few minutes earlier when he thought he heard her stirring in her room. “Here you go. Well, Dad and I are both excited because we have a surprise for you.”

Although still tired, her eyes widened. Her birthday was only a week ago, but she’d already gotten a weekend away, so she couldn’t imagine she was getting another birthday gift. What could it possibly be? “What for?”

“Because you’ve earned it, and we think you’ll continue to earn it,” Luke said, motioning toward the window. Diana scrunched up her face and got up, walking over toward the door. As she pulled her arm out of her burrito blanket, she peeled the curtain back, gasping when she saw a red bow.

“What?” She turned around stunned, but clearly still confused. “We got a new car? Finally? After months of looking?”

Spencer reached into his pocket and pulled out the key, throwing it in her direction and then casually taking another sip of his coffee. “You have a new car.”

“WHAT?!” Her head snapped up and down between them and the key before she dropped her blanket on the floor and ran outside toward the car. With months of practice under her belt, she’d aced her driving test. “Are you serious?” She jumped into the front seat and screamed at them, kicking wildly and smacking the steering wheel. “Like really serious?”

Standing at the doorway, Luke and Spencer smiled and then laughed when Diana got out of the car and started running around it. “Oh my god, I need to think of a name for you. You’re going to be my baby until I have kids. Hello, car, I love you.” Diana held her hands out and hugged the blue SUV. And then she ran right up the steps and into her fathers’ arms. “Really? Like this is mine? I have a car? I’ve just decided her name is Rebecca by the way.”

Luke kissed her forehead. “Yea, it’s yours. With some stipulations. And why Rebecca?”

“Okay, what are they?” She looked like she wanted to cry. 

Spencer wrapped his arms around her and they told her to keep her grades up and continue to communicate with them no matter what. “That’s it?” she asked. 

“Yes,” Spencer replied, “that’s it. And when we say keep your grades up, that doesn’t mean run yourself ragged trying to get straight A’s your entire college career. Try your best. We know what your best is. Also, if I’m right, Rebecca is for Rebecca Lee Crumpler, noted as the first African-American female doctor in the United States? Right?”

“Oh my god, I love you! And yes!” She ripped the coffees out of their hands and then jumped into their arms separately, giggling as they spun their mermaid queen around the living room. “I have to invite Malin, Emma and Alicia over after they’re done with classes. They must meet Rebecca!” 

At the speed of light, she ran into her room and grabbed her phone, which she’d left on the charger. “Once they get here, can I go for a drive?” she asked. “I know you said I shouldn’t drive with a ton of people in the car to start, so like, around the block? Or down the block to get ice cream?”

Spencer shrugged, picking up his coffee. “It’s your car,” he said.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!!! Yesss!!!!!!”


	60. Confiding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana decides she'd going to pick up soccer again and runs some drills with Aunt JJ as they talk about college and dating.

“Where are you headed?” Spencer asked when he heard the door open.

Diana had plans to run some soccer drills. Classes were tough and she kind of wanted to kick something, so why not a soccer ball. “Going to meet Aunt JJ down the block at the field and run some soccer drills!” she called back. 

“Have fun!”

As she headed out of the house, she placed a kiss in her hand and tapped Rebecca on the side. “Just down the block, so I’m not taking you today,” she laughed. Once at the field, she texted her aunt to tell her she was there.

A few moments later, she got a text back and minutes after that she saw her aunt cross the field. “Hey, sweetpea!” she said, enveloping her niece in a tight hug. “How is college treating you?” Her face softened even more and Diana could see the gears turning in her mind. She was thinking about how much she’d grown. “You’re in college already!”

Diana laughed, dropping the ball on the ground and kicking it toward her aunt. “It’s going. It’s hard. But that is kind of what I asked for, so I guess I can’t complain too much.” JJ returned the ball and for a few moments, they said nothing, just kicking the ball up into the air and showing off their respective moves.

“What made you decide to join this league?” her aunt asked. Diana would be starting next week.

Diana shrugged. “I miss it,” she said, remembering back to when she’d first start at the age of 10. “I loved it. I started to not like it after Sophie and I had our issues, but now we’re over it and I need some kind of physical release after class.” She chuckled, knowing exactly how her girlfriend would respond to that. 

Apparently, JJ had seen the look on her face. “How’s Malin?” she asked with a smile. 

Diana couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She really liked Malin; she was gorgeous, insanely talented, smart, kind - pretty much anything anyone could want. “She’s great,” she said. “She’s actually trying out for that American Idol knockoff show out in California right now.” When the words left her mouth, she grimaced a little bit.

“What’s that mean for you guys?” JJ asked, kicking the ball up and hitting it with her knee. She could see the answer on Diana’s face. 

She wanted the absolute best for Malin, because she cared about her so much. But if she did make it onto this show, she would be moving out to California for the foreseeable future. Malin wanted more than anything to sing with her band for the rest of her life, and she was talented enough to do exactly that, but Diana couldn’t deny that if would more than likely mean the end of their relationship. “If she makes it, she’s moving. And even if she doesn’t win the show, I know her; she’ll want to stay out there to try and pursue her dreams. We haven’t really spoken about it, because I think we both know what’s going to happen, but…” Tears stung at the corners of her eyes, so JJ picked up the ball and walked over to her niece, enveloping her in a tight hug. 

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll decide to do long distance? And even if you don’t, at least it’s amicable.”

“Yea,” Diana shrugged. “It’s just that Malin’s my first real relationship, so it’s hard.” JJ of course knew that Diana and Michael had gone on a date, but it had been one date. Malin was her first relationship ever, and she felt for her - the demise of the first relationship was always one of the hardest. At that age, you were so in love, with nothing but opportunity ahead of you, but losing that first love always hurt like hell. 

JJ put the soccer ball back on the ground and ran down the field. “Well, let’s get the frustration out. Kick that ball as hard as you can.”

Diana ran back and poised herself, running forward, moving her leg back and kicking the ball harder than she ever thought possible. She watched in awe as it flew down the field and passed her aunt, who had to run after it. “Damn, that was a good one,” she said, running out of breath as she came back to Diana’s side. “More than a little frustrated?”

She nodded and took the ball from her aunt, once again kicking it more than halfway down the field. If she needed a scholarship, she probably could’ve gotten an athletic one based on that kick alone. “You know,” Diana started, “Sometimes being an adult has it’s perks, getting to make your own decisions, driving is pretty cool, but then it also sucks, because I don’t like this.”

JJ totally understood how she felt. Adulting was hard. And dating, especially before she started dating Will, was horrible, never knowing where you stood in the eyes of the other. “Eventually, if it’s what you want, you’ll find someone that you can’t live without and you’ll do whatever it takes to make it work. Anyone who ends up with you will have one of the best women in the world.”

“Thanks, Aunt JJ,” she said, leaning into her for a hug before running down the field to grab her soccer ball. “Wanna go grab an ice cream cone? I wanna drown my sorrows in chocolate chip cookie dough.”

“I’m more of a mint chip girl myself,” she laughed, “But totally. Gimme the ball.”

As they walked down the block, they kicked the ball back and forth toward each other - both had great balance. While they ate, Diana asked how Michael was doing in college. He’d just started at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Michael still wanted to be a profiler more than anything. “He’s great,” she said. “Very busy. But he’s loving it in the city.” She looked a little sad. Her youngest baby was already off to school. “He’s going to come back for all of the breaks you have. I was thinking that maybe you, and your dads, and us, and Morgan, Savannah and Hank and the girls could possibly go away together, maybe skiing, around Christmas. I feel like it’s been ages since the group of us have been able to spend any quality time together.”

That lifted Diana’s spirits. She hadn’t seen Michael or Hank, or Amaya and Penelope for that matter, in forever. Hank especially. After her Uncle Derek retired from the BAU, they moved to Chicago to be closer to his mother, but now that Hank was going to be starting at Georgetown in the fall, they were moving back to DC again. “That would be amazing. Bring it up with Daddy when we get home!”

“Speaking of, let’s get you home. If you want, we can make this a weekend thing.” Her aunt was definitely having a little bit of empty nest syndrome and out of all her aunts and uncles she was probably closest with JJ and Garcia. 

They began to walk back toward home. “That sounds awesome. Ice cream included, right?”

“I mean, obviously,” JJ laughed. Once they got back, Diana opened the door with her key and JJ walked in being her.

Diana spun around and gave her a hug. “That was so much fun and totally necessary. Love you, Aunt JJ.”

“Love you, baby,” she replied. “Hey, Spence. I was thinking, since they are moving back, that maybe them and Will and Henry and Michael and I and you guys could all go skiing during Christmas break this year. Like the week before?”

“That sounds like fun,” he said. “I’ll absolutely fall on my ass, but I think Luke would enjoy.”

“Enjoy what?” Luke said, popping out from the hallway. 

“Skiing with Derek and family and JJ and family sometime around Christmas.”

“To watch you fall on your ass. I’m in.” Diana gave him a high five and laughed as she passed to go to her room. 

“Now we just have to see if Derek and Savannah are interested,” JJ said. “It’d be great if we could all go. We haven’t been able to spend time together in forever.”

It really had been too long. “I’ll text Morgan,” Spencer said. “I’ll guilt him into going.”

“We all will,” Luke laughed.


	61. A Hole In My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and family deal with a tragic loss.

As Spencer hung up the phone, Luke asked what was wrong, but the second he turned around, he knew. The tears were pricking the corners of Spencer’s eyes, and within seconds, they started to fall. “I knew it was coming,” he said, his voice shaky with emotion, “I thought I was ready…but I’m not.” He brought his hand up to his mouth, covering it as he sobbed. Luke walked up to his side and wrapped his arms around him.

“None of us are ever ready,” Luke said, doing his best to comfort his grieving husband. “But try and think of it this way, she had a much longer and healthy life than we anticipated. She got to see Diana grow up. She was even really lucid recently.”

Hearing their daughter’s name uttered brought a sob up in his throat. She didn’t know yet. “This is going to kill her,” he muttered. 

“I’m so sorry, baby.”

For a few moments, Spencer just swayed in Luke’s arms, crying into his shoulder, when the door suddenly opened up. “Hey,” Diana said, closing the door and then looking at her fathers’ tear-stained cheeks. As she looked in between them, her face fell. They were both crying, but her Daddy looked worse. “No…” 

When Spencer said nothing, and instead walked over to Diana, she collapsed. “Grandma’s gone?” 

“Yes, baby girl,” he said softly, the tears starting anew as Diana gasped into his shoulder. “If it’s any consolation for you, she went in her sleep this morning. She wasn’t in any pain at all.”

Diana felt her knees go out from under her, and her Daddy fell to the floor with her. Seeing his daughter in pain hurt more than anything else in the world. Luke came to sit at their sides, holding them both as they cried. “I was named after her,” she wept, continuously wiping the tears and snot away with the back of her shirt. “I feel like a piece of my heart is missing.” The young girl, so grown up, but still so young, clutched at her heart as cried. 

“I know, baby,” he said, smoothing her hair and kissing the top of her head. 

Luke hated that the two people he loved most in the world were so distraught. His mother-in-law, though difficult at times due to circumstances beyond her control, was a true light in Spencer’s life and meant the world to them all. “We’re gonna get through this,” he said softly, taking both of them into his chest. “And Grandma will be watching over you.”

In these moments, people tried so hard to say the right thing, but being so fresh, there really was no correct way to respond. Both Spencer and Diana cried into Luke’s shoulder. “We’ll get through this.”

—-

Three days later was the funeral.

“Spence, I’m so sorry,” JJ said, walking up to her best friend of nearly 30 years. She enveloped him in a hug and he cried into her shoulder. 

“Thanks for coming,” he said. Will had taken off of work. Henry brought his girlfriend and Michael had flown back from college.

Hotch was there. Rossi was there. Emily and Mark were on their way. “Hey, kid.” Spencer turned around to see Derek, Savannah, Hank, Amaya and Penelope. They were supposed to be moving back to DC in a couple of months, but when Spencer had notified him of his mother’s death two days earlier, they decided to get a hotel for a couple of days and try to move sooner.

Derek wrapped his arms around the man that had become his little brother over the years. “I’m so sorry. She was a good woman.”

“Yea,” he sighed, looking down at his mother. He decided to put her in a plain outfit. Frequently, she had told him not to do anything ostentatious, because ‘screw it, I’m dead.’ That always made him laugh. “And are you ever gonna stop calling me kid? I’m in my 50s.”

The older man placed his hand on top of the younger’s head. “Never. You’re always kid to me.”

Everyone paid their respects and sat in their seats. It was nearly time for mass to start. “Hey.” Diana heard someone softly behind her. When she turned around, she saw Malin. She’d texted her the day she found out, but she hadn’t expected Malin to return. 

“I thought you made it onto-”

Malin nodded. “I did. But that’s not what matters right now.” Malin wrapped her arms around Diana and let her cry into her shoulders. “I’m so sorry about your grandma.”

With everyone in attendance, the mass began and Spencer, Luke and Diana all read passages that reminded them of their Diana. All three of them had gone over what was going to be said with the man that was conducting the mass, but Diana, her grandmother’s namesake, had a special tribute that was close to the two of them. “Before I go back to my seat, I have something I wanted to share on behalf of my grandmother that I think she would’ve enjoyed. As a kid, and even as a teenager, we used to read Harry Potter together all the time. Some of my best memories were of reading with her. So I’ll leave you all with this, changed just a bit for everyone here today. ‘You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? My grandmother is alive in me, and in us all, and will show herself plainly if we’re ever in need of her.’”


	62. No Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana suffers another loss, of a different nature, about a week and a half after losing her grandmother.

The day after the funeral, Diana went back to school. She’d already missed two days and she could easily fall seriously behind if she stayed out - though that’s what she wanted to do more than anything. 

Her grandma was gone.

She felt like she was walking through quicksand as she traveled from class to class. Her friends did their best to cheer her up, but even their cheery voices turned to muffles in her ears. Good thing she had thought ahead, realizing she probably wouldn’t be able to focus, because she’d come up with an idea and asked her professors if they cared. Thankfully, they didn’t, so she ended up recording her lectures for a few days so she could go over them when she could focus more. 

On top of that, she knew what was coming - Malin was going to break up with her. She’d gotten accepted onto her show and would undoubtedly win; her babe was super talented. Between losing her grandma and her first love, she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to keep it together. 

“Hey, baby,” Spencer said softly, opening the door and peeking his head in. “How’re you doing?” He came in and closed the door behind him, coming to sit on her bed. He knew his mother’s death would be hard on her, but he wasn’t aware of how much until now. “A lot on your mind?”

Her eyes were so heavy. All she wanted to do was sleep for a week or two, wake up, and have none of this ever happen. Putting down her pen and notebook, she rubbed at her eyes, attempting and failing to wipe the sleep away. “Yea,” she said, swallowing hard. “I miss grandma…I know we hadn’t seen in each other in a while before she…” she couldn’t say it yet. “But she used to read Harry Potter to me, and now she’s not here. And I can’t focus, so I’m falling behind in my classes, and on top of that Malin got onto her show, so she’s probably going to break up with me. I just…” Diana’s eyes flooded with tears that brimmed along her eyelids before finally running over. “Why does life have to be hard when you get older?”

Spencer brought his arm around her neck and brought her toward his chest. “I’m so sorry,” he said softly. “You said it yourself though. Grandma is always with you.” She just missed her so much. The idea that she’d never be able to hear her grandmother’s voice again broke her heart. Diana got her snark from her Daddy and namesake. As his daughter cried into his shoulder, he whispered into her hair. “I miss her too. So much.”

For a few moments, they sat there in silence. “When it comes to school, Dad and I meant it. Do the best you can. And when it comes to Malin, I’m sorry. I know it’s not easy to lose your first love.” Without thinking, she almost asked who his first love was, but she caught herself. She’d never want to bring up bad memories of Maeve. At least Malin wasn’t dying, she was just pursuing her dream. “Dad and I are here when you need us.”

“I’m supposed to meet up with Malin in a little bit to talk. I may grab Ben and Jerry’s on the way back to drown my sorrows. Should I bring some for you and Dad?”

He thought about it for a few moments, but then he figured he’d just lost his mother so he should be allowed to drown his sorrows in ice cream too. “Yea, peanut butter cup for Dad, obviously, and for me…mint chip.”

When Diana looked at her phone, she noted the time and decided to get going to see Malin. She knew what was coming and she just wanted to get it over with. “Okay, Daddy,” she said softly, giving him a hug as she headed toward the door. “I’ll see you later. Love you.”

“Love you, too, sweetheart.”

—-

Instead of meeting at the ice cream place down the block as they’d originally planned, Malin asked if she could drive to the music store. Malin was going to pick up a new guitar. When Diana stepped inside, she took in the scent of new instruments. It was a smell she couldn’t really describe, but she did love it. 

Malin turned to meet her gaze and gave her a strained smile. “Hey babe,” she said, giving her a soft peck on the lips. 

“Hey.” Diana squeezed her hand. Neither one wanted to start out the conversation, but it had to be done, so Diana spoke up. “You’re leaving, right?”

As Malin nodded her head, the tears started to sting at her eyes. “This is what I’ve always wanted…I didn’t realize at the time…”

“That we would start dating?”

“Yea. Di, I’m so sorry.” She clasped her hand to her mouth as a sob bubbled up from her throat. “It’s just, I’ve always wanted to sing for a living, and I might actually get the chance, and…”

Diana brought her finger up to her girlfriend’s lips. “I would never want you to pick me over this,” she said honestly. And she did mean it. “I’d never want you to have any regrets.” Diana wanted only the best for Malin and this had always been her dream, so she knew that to ask her to stay would be unfair. “You’re gonna go on this show. I’m going to be watching from home and voting like crazy, and you’re totally gonna win because you are the most skilled guitarist I’ve ever seen and you have the voice of a rock angel. I do want you to know though…that you’ll always be my first love.”

They hadn’t actually said they loved each other yet. It was probably coming soon, but Diana wanted her to know how she felt even though it was over. “I love you, too,” she said, bringing her tear-stained face within inches of Diana’s. “So much. Thank you for not asking me to stay.”

Never. Diana couldn’t do that to her. As they looked around the store, Malin settled on a guitar, that was going to be a gift from her parents. Once she was finished with her purchase, the two stepped outside of the store. “We can continue to text right? And call?” Diana asked. Even if she wasn’t going to date her anymore, she still cared for Malin and wanted to be able to talk every now and then.

Malin nodded excitedly. “Absolutely.” She leaned in, and for another few moments, their foreheads rested against one another. But as time came to a close, Malin pressed her lips to Diana’s one last time. “I love you, Di.”

“I love you, too, Malin.” She felt the bile rising in her throat and she turned around quickly to go get ice cream - which was absolutely necessary. “And Malin? I meant what I said. I’m gonna be watching from home and forcing both my fathers to stay up late at night voting.” With a smile, they blew each other and parted ways. As sad as Diana was, Malin was going to live her dream; she couldn’t stand in the way of that.

—-

Diana had wandered between her meeting with Malin, the grocery store, and back home, unable to focus very well. But after about an hour, she returned home, three pints of ice cream in hand. “How’d it go?” Luke asked. He’d returned home a bit earlier and had already been briefed by his husband on what was happening between Malin and Diana. 

Immediately, he hopped up off the couch and wrapped his arms around Diana, who’d burst into tears. “I’m sorry.”

“I love her,” she said softly. “This hurts.”

“I know, baby, I know.” After a moment, he reached for the bag in her hands. “That’s what ice cream is for.”

She sat down in between them and pulled out a movie. “I need Elle Woods.” Legally Blonde never failed to make her smile. The move started and Diana told them both of her conversation with Malin.

“So we’re going to be up late at night voting for Malin?” Spencer asked.

“Yes. I promised.”

“I think we can handle that.” He smiled.

Diana hated this. Growing up. Losing people. None of it was fun. But thankfully, she had great fathers and great friends to help her through - well that, peanut butter cup ice cream and Elle Woods. But no matter how she felt right now, she’d make it through.


	63. Me Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana decides to focus on school and herself following the death of her grandmother and the end of her first real relationship.

“You know Damian likes you, right,” Sadie said as you walked from one class to the next. “He’s also young. He’s only 17 and you’re not far off from there.” Diana would be seventeen in a matter of weeks. 

Tara spoke up from behind them after grabbing a sip at the water fountain. “Connor likes you too.”

“One, I’m tainted to the name Connor because my first ‘boyfriend’s’ name was Connor and I caught him kissing another girl,” Diana said as they backed into the classroom. “And two, with everything that’s gone on lately, losing my grandmother, and then having Malin leave for California, I’m just overwhelmed. So I plan on doing me and being single for the rest of the semester. I just wanna be with me.” 

Tara was a serial dater and Sadie was currently in a relationship so neither of them understood Diana’s desire to stay single, but she was young and in desperate need of finding herself. “Up to you,” Sadie laughed. “But we are here for you if you wanna get hooked up.”

“Nope,” she said with smile, plopping down in her seat and excitedly taking out her laptop so she could take notes. “I’m concentrating on school and me.”

—–

Nearly a month later, Diana was excelling in classes, although she was having an emotionally difficult time in her general education literature class. “How was class today, babygirl?” Luke asked as she came home from school.

“Not too bad,” she said, looking toward her daddy. “But this lit class is killing me.”

Spencer raised on eyebrow, clearly confused. “Why? Is there are particularly symbolism-heavy book you’re on?”

She shook her head sadly. “No, it just reminds me of grandma. Then I can’t concentrate and I find my mind wandering.”

Spencer understood that very well. He went to his room to grab one of his mother’s old bracelets, a little gold chain with a book charm on it. “This was grandma’s. She wanted you to have it.” He placed the chain around her wrist and clasped it. “Hopefully, this’ll help you concentrate.” Diana looked at the charm and smiled, remembering all the times she and her grandmother read together. 

Suddenly, a thought popped into her brain. “If I thought about it for a while, and came up with an idea for it, would either of you mind if I got a tattoo?” Neither Luke nor Spencer understood where that question came from - it was seemingly from left field. “For grandma,” she said with smile. “Something like a book, and it would have some kind of design around it, and her name…would that be okay?”

Luke smiled and looked over at Spencer; he nodded. “Think about it. Come up with a design, and if you’re still sure in your decision at the end of the semester, then yes. You can get one this summer.” The semester was only a few more weeks from being over. Maybe Emma would draw something for her.

“Woo!” She hopped up excitedly and sat at the dining room table, finishing her homework while Luke made them both dinner.

“So,” Spencer said, putting his book down for a moment and running his hands through his hair. “When does Malin’s show start? And how have you been dealing with that whole situation?”

“I miss her,” she said, placing her pen back on the table. She really did. Being with Malin was easy and carefree. “But we’ve been texting and she really enjoys it out there. And she’s so excited to start the show. It premieres in a couple of weeks. Get ready, because all three of us are going to be up voting. Until our fingers bleed.”

They both laughed and Luke handed Diana a plate of food. They discussed school, what classes she wanted to take during the upcoming fall semester, and even when she wanted to go back to get her hair dyed again. “Thinking of a different color scheme?” Spencer asked from the kitchen where he was helping himself to seconds. His husband really was an amazing cook. 

“Pastels!” she said, ruffling the now muted colors of her hair. “I want to look like a unicorn because being an adult is dumb, so I wanna be a unicorn now.”

That sounded like fun to Spencer. “There is nothing I wouldn’t give to be a unicorn rather than an adult,” he laughed. 

“What about dates?” Luke asked. “Sadie and Tara still trying to set you up?”

Diana hung her head in her hands and nodded. “It’s all they talk about. Apparently, there are two guys interested in me, but no.”

When they asked who, she told them and Spencer mentioned not liking the name Connor anymore because of the boy that broke her heart. “I’m deciding to focus on me right now,” she said proudly, cleaning off her plate and pulling the rest of her homework out onto the table. “I think it’s important for me to get my shit straight and on track before I start dating, plus, I don’t have an interest in Damian or Connor. I want someone to come along and I feel like I need to date them. Then I’ll go for it.”

“That sounds like a smart idea,” Spencer said, kissing her forehead and heading to the sink to do the dishes. Once he got to Luke’s side he gave him a kiss on the shoulder. “When you find someone you just have to date, you’ll do it.” Luke winked at him and Diana fake gagged herself.

“Oh, did you talk to Derek and Savannah about vacation over Christmas this year?” she asked. They were in. Diana raised her hands to the roof and for the first time in the past month, she felt happy, and like things were on the right track.


	64. Always With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana gets her first tattoo - a dedication to her grandmother.

Emma was going to be coming over for the weekend. With everything that had happened recently, Diana really did need some time with her best friend. “Guess what I have for you,” Emma said as she hopped out of her car. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her sketchbook and told Diana to open it up. “I finished your tattoo design!”

Diana’s eyes shimmered as she took in the photo before her. “Emma, this is amazing! It’s…like actually perfect.” Before her was an open book. It was at an angle and could be seen from underneath. The book itself was drawn in black and white and in great detail - Diana could even see some of the individual pages. Radiating outward from the book was an explosion of color, like those watercolor tattoos she’d seen so often and loved. On top was the finishing touch, the word Grandma buffered on either side by the year she was born and the year she died in Emma’s stunning script. “This is beautiful.” Diana started to cry at how perfect it was and Emma came to wrap her arms around her. “Thank you.”

“What are besties for?” She smiled.

When they walked inside, Spencer and Luke immediately wondered what was wrong. They’d been seeing too much of Diana crying lately, and although they understood it, they hated it. “What’s wrong?” Luke asked.

Teary-eyed, Diana held out the sketchbook. “It’s my tattoo.” Luke’s mouth dropped open and he looked between Emma and the drawing as Spencer walked over. 

“Woah,” Spencer said, talking the book from Luke’s hands. “That’s beautiful. Have you thought about being a tattoo artist?” Emma shook her head excitedly. She loved to draw more than anything, so more than once she thought about pursuing tattooing. “Well, it’s amazing.” His scrunched up a little at the memory of his mother and how much she’d like this tattoo. “When do you wanna get it, Di?”

“As soon as possible. It’s amazing.” 

Emma was staying over the weekend, and both Luke and Spencer had taken off for the weekend. When Luke looked toward Spencer, they knew what the other was thinking. “How about this weekend?”

Diana thought she was going to have to wait a while, but she’d been taking about it for weeks and her fathers knew she was very sure of herself in regards to this, so why wait? She jumped up and down, and said the next day she’d go talk to the artist she wanted to get it from. Hopefully, she’d be able to set up an appointment.

Saturday was filled with Emma and Diana going back and forth to the tattoo place to set up an appointment, but thankfully for Diana, the artist, Tiana, was at a time during the year where she didn’t have her schedule filled. It was set up for the next day.

—–

“I actually had to get out of your bed and sleep on the couch,” Emma laughed the next morning as Diana came out of her room wrapped in a blanket, confused as to why Emma had gone from her room to the living room. 

“Yea, what happened?” Diana yawned. 

Emma snorted and got up off the couch to grab a cup of coffee. “You happened. You were tossing and turning all night. I got tired of you kicking me in the shins, so I came out here.”

“Sorry,” Diana replied, giving Emma a cheesy smile. “I guess I’m just too excited for my tattoo.”

After a few hours, when everyone was up, Diana started to get a little nervous. “Will you all come with me?” she asked randomly. 

Spencer looked like he’d been wanting her to ask that, but was going to give Diana her space. “You want Dad and I and Emma to go with you?”

She nodded. 

An hour after that, they were on their way and Diana was still nervous but ready for her tattoo. “Okay,” Tiana said, “it depends on the person. For some people, it hurts. For others, it’s uncomfortable and some people don’t care. Whatever you do, don’t move. If you want to take a break, tell me, no matter how many times. It’s better than you moving.”

Diana nodded and at down. She was getting the tattoo on her forearm so she could look at it all the time. Luke, Spencer and Emma sat nearby; they, along with Diana and Tiana started talking about anything and everything from Diana’s schoolwork, Spencer and Luke’s job, and Emma’s desire to be a tattoo artist as well. “How are you feeling?” Tiana asked after about an hour.

It was uncomfortable sure. And occasionally, there was a bit of pain, but for the most part, Diana was fine. She was beyond excited. “I’m good. It looks awesome so far.” The book on her arm was coming to life. The tattoo wasn’t super small, but it wasn’t enormous either, and Tiana was an expert - one of the best in the area. The book was almost done, and then Tiana needed a break on her back. After that would be any black shading that needed to be done along with the nod to Diana’s grandma, and last would be the colors radiating from the book. 

Hours went by. It was almost done, but both artist and canvas still had the color to go. Apparently, since the colors were mixed into each other, that would take less time. More precise work would’ve taken longer. “Do you want pizza?” Luke asked. “I could use pizza. I’ll bring some back for everyone.” Emma and Spencer nodded, as Luke knew they would, but he was including Tiana in this whole pizza situation. “Tiana, you want?”

“Ummm, yea,” she said, clearly taken aback. She’d been so in the zone, she hadn’t realized how hungry she was. “That would be amazing. I’m used to having to take a break to go grab food.”

Luke’s stomach grumbled, so he quickly headed out the door to grab a couple pies. Nearly a half hour later, Diana’s Dad returned with the pizza and Tiana decided to talk a break to eat. “We’re almost done. How do you like it?”

She loved it. It was literally as if Emma’s drawing had been transferred from paper to sin. “It’s amazing.” Once they’d finished eating, it didn’t take much longer for it to be finished. 

Tiana finished up and let the tattoo breathe for a few minutes while she cleaned up her tools. Afterwards, she put a salve and a covering over it. “Okay, rules for aftercare. Very important. DO NOT by any means pick the scabs, peel the flaking skin, which is very common, submerge it in water, leaves it open to bacterial infection, or scratch the tattoo. If you get an insane itch, hold your hand over it for a minute, but do not scratch. I’ll give you a paper with more dont’s and if you have questions, call me.”

“Got it,” Diana replied, smiling down happily at the book that looked like it was floating through the galaxy. “What about what I do do?”

“You said do do,” Emma laughed. 

Diana rolled her eyes. “If I had a piece of paper, I would totally throw it at you right now.”

“But that’s why you love me.” Emma clasped her hands together and brought them up to the side of her face. 

Tiana got sidetracked for a moment, handing Emma her phone number and telling her to call if she was serious about getting into tattooing. “Now, for the do’s. Wash extremely carefully.” She turned around and grabbed another paper, going over all the do’s and dont’s of washing. “Do not rub.” Diana laughed at how exasperated she seemed. Apparently, many people fucked up their tattoos with the first wash. After going through all of the aftercare points at length, Diana was ready to go. 

It hurt. And it was going to hurt for quite a few days, but it was totally worth it. As she looked down, the colors soaring from the book up toward the mention of her grandmother, she felt as if she was right there - by her side. And that’s where she’d stay.


	65. No Matter What

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana receives her grades from the conclusion of her first year in college, and then has a relaxing day at the beach with Emma and Alicia.

It had been two weeks since finals. Diana was officially on summer vacation, but she was freaking out, and nearly every morning since class ended, she’d pace in front of the computer for a while hoping her grades would pop up. “Baby,” Luke said, seeing her for the seventh morning in a row, “You have to chill. The grades will come when they come. I’m sure you did fine.”

“Fine?” she exclaimed. “I wanna be a surgeon for fuck’s sake, fine grades are not fine!”

Spencer came up behind her and shoved a cup of coffee in her face. “Fine grades are fine,” he said. “Sure, you have to know your shit, but it’s about the practice of it. You’re gonna be okay.”

Everything this semester had just been so hectic. Diana did the best she could, but with her grandmother’s death and having Malin move across the country, she’d found it difficult to focus on school. Falling behind had been a fear since her grandmother died, but now that she was waiting for grades to come out, the fear was growing more and more. “I’m supposed to go to the beach with Emma and Alicia today. I really wanna be able to relax, but I struggled so much this semester because of Malin and Grandma, and I’m just really worried that I’m gonna fail and then I’m gonna lose my scholarship and then I’m not gonna be able to do the one thing I imagined doing for the rest of my life!”

Spencer wrapped his arms around his daughter. His grown-up little girl. He understood the pressures that came with having a brain like his - and Diana’s was even stronger. The only thing he and Luke could do was assure her that they loved her no matter what. “Di, I know this is what you want and honestly, I don’t think you have anything to worry. I think your grades are gonna be fine, but…”

“But we love you no matter what,” Luke finished, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “It doesn’t matter what you do with your life, as long as you choose it and you love it, that’s all that matters.”

“Then maybe I should drop all the stress of school and become a stripper,” she said, eliciting a panicked look from both her fathers. “Kidding.”

Spencer heaved a huge sigh of relief. “And that’s not because we would look down on you in anyway. More for your safety than anything else.”

Diana giggled, turning around and knocking her head into her Daddy’s chest over and over again. “I’m not gonna strip,” she said. “But I need my grades before my brain explodes.”

At that moment, Diana felt a buzzing in her pocket and pulled out her phone. “Oh my god, it’s my grades. I asked for a notification when they came through.” Her hands were shaking, but she opened the email and went through her five classes. “A…A…B+…A…A-…Oh thank god.” She dropped into the couch and kicked her feet up and down over and over again. I feel like I wanna throw up, I’m so relieved.”

“Get up here,” Spencer said, pulling Diana up off the couch. He wrapped her in another hug. “We’re proud of you…No matter what.” 

“Thank you, Daddy,” she said. “You too, Dad.” 

“No matter what,” Luke repeated, shaking his finger in her direction. 

Diana ran into her room and got changed into a bathing suit. It was the first time since she got her tattoo that she could go out in the sun for more than a few hours. “Now,” Spencer said, when she came outside for the second time that morning, “You have your grades, so you can relax today. You made it through your first year of college taking largely medical classes, you’ve earned a break.”

After texting Emma to make sure that Diana was picking her up, she headed out the door. “Relaxing day for me!” she screamed as she left.

Minutes later, she ended up at Emma’s and soon, or more like a half hour later because Emma couldn’t finalize a bikini, they were headed to the beach. “You look better than you have in days,” she said. “You got your grades, didn’t you!?”

Excitedly, Diana nodded and pulled out the phone. “Lowest was a B+! And you were worried! I knew you’d pull it out! Because you’re amazing like that. I promise, if Alicia and I ever end up having babies and that baby needs surgery, I will totally let you operate on my kids.”

“Thanks, boo,” she replied, hanging her hands over her best friend’s shoulders. “Should we go get that lovely girl of yours?” Alicia and Emma were cutely and stupidly in love, Diana couldn’t help but smile. She wasn’t sure whether Emma was joking about the having kids things, but she could absolutely picture the two of them staying together for the long haul; she actually hoped they would. Emma seemed so happy. 

It took longer to get to the beach after Alicia’s house than they had imagined, but once they arrived, they all let loose. Splashing around in the waves was everything the three of them needed. While Emma and Alicia weren’t in college, they were both starting the process of applying and being accepted, so they were stressed out too. “So where do you think you wanna go?” Diana asked them both. “Either of you like to join me at Georgetown?”

Both girls vigorously shook their heads. “Too much pressure!” They both laughed. “But I do wanna stay home,” Emma said. “I’d miss you too much.”

“I can’t imagine going too far away,” Alicia said. “I’m too close with my parents to wanna leave. And if my girl is staying home, then I think that’s all the convincing I need to stay close to home.”

Diana dipped her head below the waves and when she came up, Emma and Alicia were making out in the waves. “Get a room!” she screamed.

“Maybe we should get one together,” Alicia said, wiggling her eyebrows in Emma’s direction.

Diana turned around and started swimming away. “I’m out! You lovebirds are going to make me sick!”

As they swam after her, making kisses faces on either side, she felt more relaxed than she ever thought possible. Signing up for classes would come soon, and along with it, some more stress, but until then, she was going to make sure she did nothing but relax.


	66. A Little Over Her Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana attends her first college party.

“Okay, where is this party?” Spencer asked. 

Diana pulled out her phone to get the address that Sadie had texted earlier. She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote the address down. “It’s the house of a friend of a friend of Sadie’s. Their parents are out of town for the weekend so he’s throwing a party.”

Neither of them were thrilled about Diana going to a party with no chaperones, but they were also aware enough to know that the more you tried to restrict a child from doing something the more likely they were to want to do it. Over the 17 years of raising her so far, they’d instilled what they felt were good values in her. Diana was a good kid; she was smart and she knew how they felt about things, so although they were uncomfortable, they knew she’d make the right decisions.

That didn’t stop Luke from having an outer panic attack though. Spencer’s was more in his head. “So, no one is going to be there except rowdy college students,” Luke said, grabbing his daughter’s face in his hands. “There’s gonna be all kinds of drugs and drinking and sex at this party. Please be careful.” He kissed her forehead and she laughed. When Luke put it like that, Spencer wanted to scream.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” she told them both. “I have no interest in drugs of any kind. There will be absolutely no sex going on. I’m still single and I wanna stay that way for now. And I’m probably going to have a couple drinks, but I know my limit, and if I happen to go a little overboard I will give you a call.” When she finished, they both breathed a slight sigh of relief. 

“Still worried,” Spencer said with a chuckle, “But we trust you. If something is going on that you’re not comfortable with, other than drinking, although that too,” he rambled, “don’t hesitate to call us. It doesn’t matter what time it is, okay?”

Diana nodded and gave both of her fathers a kiss goodnight. “Thanks for letting me go. I swear I’ll be safe.”

“It’s not you we don’t trust,” Luke laughed. “It’s everyone else.”

Diana laughed as she opened the door. “The BAU has poisoned your minds.”

“Damn straight!”

—-

She’d invited Emma and Alicia along at Sadie and Tara’s insistence. Since both were still in high school, their parents were a little wary, but Diana had promised she’d take care of them. They all hopped in Rebecca the Hyundai Tucson and within 20 minutes they’d arrived at Sadie’s friend’s friend’s house. “Come on in, pretty ladies!” They had no idea who’d greeted them at the door, but Sadie and Tara were right inside, so they all sidled passed the two guys and headed toward Diana’s college friends. 

“How’re you?” Tara screamed over the music.

They honestly couldn’t say much because the music was so loud, so Sadie and Tara just brought over some drinks, and pushed the three girls out toward the dance floor. Even they were the youngest at the party by far, the night wore on without much to speak of. They danced with each other and occasionally someone else would join in for a few moments and leave. Damned if any of them would remember any names by the end of the night. “You want another drink?” Alicia asked. Their cups were all bone dry so they decided to get off the dance floor and grab some more beer. 

Diana was feeling pretty great. A tiny bit buzzed, but nothing much. Another beer or two should be fine. “Hey!” Tara cried, shoving her way through the crowd and bolting toward them. “A bunch of us are going in the pool out back, let’s go!”

“Wanna?” Diana asked. Emma and Alicia had barely nodded before they were stripping down to their bikinis and jumping into the water. A cooler of beers was pushed over to the side of the pool and everyone in it grabbed for a beer and kept dancing, splashing water and all.

It was hours before the mood died down, but when it did, the three girls realized how much younger they were than everyone else. There were definitely some drug deals happening from what Diana could tell. In another corner, an older couple was definitely hooking up, and numerous times they had to pass hits of ecstasy that were being passed around. Emma did take a drag on a joint that was being passed around, but that didn’t matter. Apparently, when her dads were younger, pot was illegal. Seemed weird to her now. 

As Diana took another swig of her beer, she turned to the side and saw Emma and Alicia sneaking in kisses here and there. They were absolutely adorable, but she was glad she was single right now. She felt great. “Hey.” A couple of guys came swimming over from across the pool. Diana didn’t like the look of them. “You all go to Georgetown?”

“I do,” Diana spoke up. “I’m a couple years ahead, but the same age. These are my friends Emma, and her girlfriend, Alicia.” She hoped the way she spoke clued them in that neither Emma nor Alicia were interested, and by her own disgust, her either. 

She overheard them say something about two girls together being hot. “We’re in the year 2036,” Diana laughed, taking another sip of her beer, “Seriously. They’re lesbians and they ain’t interested.”

The two guys lifted their hands in the air in defense and backed away. Nearly an hour later, Diana desperately needed to pee. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom really quick,” she said, noticing her speech was slightly slurred. “You good?”

Emma and Alicia nodded quickly, cuddling up in the corner of the pool by themselves. There was a line for the bathroom, but after about ten minutes, she made her way back to the pool. Even in her slightly drunken state, she could see that the two guys from earlier were pushing themselves onto Emma and Alicia. “Hey!” Diana called as she made a beeline to the pool. “What the fuck are you doing?” She jumped back in the pool and put herself between her friends and the two guys, who absolutely reeked of alcohol.

“They were making eyes at us,” the one said, raising his one eyebrow. Hell they were.

“Yea, of disgust, probably,” she retorted, motioning to both of them under the water to get out of the pool. “Stay the fuck away.”

Emma and Alicia were already out when Diana turned around. When she felt a tug on her arm and a ‘hey baby’ thrown in her ear, she turned around and punched the guy right in the nose, watching with satisfaction as he cursed her out and his blood ran into the pool. “Learn some goddamn manners, you entitled fuck.” She hopped out and grabbed a towel. “We’re going.” 

Once they were back in the house, Diana made sure they were surrounded by some of the other girls. Sadie was still there, so she took her friends toward her. “How’re you doing?” Diana asked. Sadie looked over - she was wasted. “I think we’re actually going to head out.” Sadie didn’t say much, so Diana offered her a ride home. 

“I’m good, babe,” she said softly. “I wanna party some more.”

Diana wasn’t too sure if Sadie could handle it, but she stood up anyway. “Woah.” After getting out of the pool, the alcohol and really set in. “Okay, come with me.” She grabbed Emma’s hand and lead them both outside, so she could make a call. 

Dammit. It was 1:30 in the morning. Oh well. She dialed the number and very suddenly heard her daddy’s voice on the other line. “Diana? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Daddy,” she laughed, leaning her head on the side of the house. “But I think the three of us our ready to come home and I probably shouldn’t be driving.”

“Okay,” he said, smacking Luke awake. “We’re coming for you now. Stay right where you are.”

“I will, Daddy.” She gave Emma and Alicia the thumbs up. 

“And Di?”

“Yea, Daddy?”

“We’re proud of you.”

When she looked back inside, she could see the guys from earlier making a move on Sadie. “I’m not leaving her here,” Diana said. “Stay here, I’m going to get her. She’s coming home with us whether she likes it or not.”

There was still a ridiculous amount of people there and Diana had to push her way through to get to Sadie. “Hey, honey!” she said, not making eye contact with the two guys. She acted as though she hadn’t seen Sadie in forever. “We totally need to catch up.”

“Yea, we should,” she slurred. God, she was wasted. By the time she got outside again, with Sadie in tow, her dads were there. And apparently the guys had followed. One look at Spencer and Luke, who’d both conveniently been wearing their guns on their belts, and they ran back inside.

“Hey Dad, hey Daddy,” she said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, baby,” Luke said. “You had fun and you called us that’s all that matters.” She smiled softly and asked if they could drop Sadie off at her dorm room. Tara was apparently with another girlfriend of hers and would be back soon to take care of her. 

Luke waited in the car with Emma and Alicia, who were half passed out, while Diana took Sadie upstairs and set her up with a bucket at the side of her bed. Spencer was driving Diana’s car home. “There’s a bucket here if you need to puke, okay?” Sadie just moaned and Diana let herself out. When she got back in the car, she passed out too, waking up only long enough to get back in the house and pass out there.

—-

The following morning, Emma and Alicia woke up before Diana, but all three looked about the same - tired, a little hungover, but they had fun. Each of them meandered outside covered in blankets to Luke and Spencer, who had a lot of trouble keeping in their laughter. “Coffee is on the counter,” Luke said quietly. 

“Fuck that,” Spencer said, walking up to his daughter and putting his chin on her head. “How’s the headache?” He was so loud.

“Daddy, I thought you loved me,” Diana cried. “Shhhhhhhh.”

Spencer’s raucous laughter brought about Luke’s own and soon enough, Emma and Alicia were begging, along with Diana, for them to keep quiet. They’d let up in a few minutes, but seeing their daughter a little hungover for the first time was something they couldn’t pass up poking fun at…at least for a few more minutes.


	67. Bestie's Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Emma go out for Emma's birthday.

After telling her dads where she’d be all day, Diana left the house and headed toward Emma’s. It had been a long time since the two of them had spent the day just the two of them, so considering it was her bestie’s birthday, she figured what better way to celebrate than go out all day, and then cap the night off with her girlfriend. “Emma!” Diana laughed, smacking against the door over and over again. She pulled the coat closer to her frame as Emma’s mom opened the door. “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, my Emma! Happy birthday to you! Get your ass down here!” 

Emma’s parents laughed in the corner as she ran down the stairs and enveloped Diana in a tight hug. “So what are we doing today? You wouldn’t tell me before now.”

“And I still won’t,” she said. “I’ve been saving the stipend I get from school. Let’s go.” With a quick wave to Emma’s parents, the two girls headed out the door hand-in-hand. 

—-

As they walked inside the spa, Emma had a blindfold over her eyes. “Can I open them yet? Where the hell are we?”

“Would you shut up?” Diana laughed. They were finally at the spa. After months of saving her stipend from the school, she’d saved up enough money for the two of them to have a spa day. 

Emma was going to freak. “Where are we?” she asked, looking around their serene surroundings. 

“Well, over the past few months I’ve been saving up my stipend from school and I figured we could have a spa day, because I miss you and we haven’t had time just the two of us lately.” Emma jumped up and down as one of the spa employees came out and introduced herself.

“You must be the birthday girl,” she said, shaking both of their hands. “Then you must be Diana Alvez-Reid. Nice to meet you both.” Her smile was unnaturally perky, but given the atmosphere, Diana wasn’t all that surprised. “Your friend has purchased two 4-hour packages for you both today. The fire package that you purchased includes a hot stone massage, a relaxed facial, a spa manicure and pedicure and food for the day.”

Emma turned to her bestie and looked like she wanted to cry. “How much did this cost you?” she asked, her eyes wide. It wasn’t cheap, but Diana didn’t need the stipend all that much save for gas to and from school, so she was able to save most of it. 

“I’m not telling you,” she laughed. “Massage time?”

“Oh my god, yes,” Emma replied, grabbing Diana’s hand and bringing her into another hug. “I can’t believe you. I love you, but I can’t believe you.”

As they made their way to the back room where they’d get their massages, Emma jumped up and down some more. “Just consider it a birthday present slash you got into college present,” Diana laughed.

For a few moments, the masseuses left the room so the two could get undressed. They’d seen each other naked before, so Diana just threw off her clothes and got on the table. “Ow ow!” Emma laughed. Once they were ready to got, the masseuse returned with a friend and began the lovely hour-long process of giving a hot stone massage. “Oh my god.”

Diana did the same two seconds later when the stones were laid on her back. “This is ahhhmazing,” she sighed, closing her eyes. With the stress of college for Diana, and the stress of choosing a college in Emma’s case, both desperately needed to relax, so by the time the massage was over they’d both nearly fallen asleep on the tables. Again, the masseuses excused themselves so Diana and Emma could get changed. 

“Do we have to move,” Emma whispered, barely mustering up enough energy to push herself upward. “That was amazing. I could do that alone and be satisfied.” After getting dressed, they sat in the massage chairs at the front of spa to get ready for the facials. 

The woman they’d seen earlier, and one of the masseuses came over to explain the facials. “You’ve both purchased a 60-minute facial, which includes a double cleanse, exfoliation, extractions if need be, a masque, a toner, and our specially-crafted skin protection cream,” she said, her face sounding more like a robot than a human. When Emma side-eyed Diana, she could tell her friend noticed it too. 

“Do we get the cucumbers?” Emma laughed, not actually thinking that was a really thing. 

The woman’s outstretched smile didn’t move an inch. “Oh yes,” she said. “I’ll be right back.” Within minutes, she returned with every product imaginable and began their next hour of relaxed bliss. 

“Have I said this is amazing?” Emma asked.

Diana couldn’t help but laugh. The longer they were here, the longer they started to sound like the employees. Just unbelievably relaxed. “Yea, you definitely have. Have you decided what you’re gonna do in school?”

Emma had long since wanted to be a tattoo artist, and she was exceptionally talented, so when Diana’s tattooist, Tiana, mentioned being able to help, she determined that was definitely what she wanted to do. “I’m going to go for two years, take every art class imaginable to hone my craft and then Tiana said she’d help me look for a job tattooing. I really, really love it. If they happen to be hiring at the time and my skills are up to par, she said she might even hire me.”

“That’s awesome,” Diana replied, with as much enthusiasm as she could muster given that she was so stupidly relaxed. “When you’re an amazing, world-renowned tattoo artist, you totally have to give me one.”

“Absolutely.” While one of the facial masks was drying, the were entitled to lunch at the spa, which consisted of some sandwiches a bottle of water and either an apple, banana, or a small bag of chips. “You still on the pediatrics route or you think you might wanna do something different?”

“Right now, I can’t imagine doing anything else, but I guess I’ll have to get an internship first and then if that doesn’t suit me, I’ll have to look into something else.” The hour went by too fast, but as soon as they were done, their skin was absolutely flawless. 

“There is literally not a pore on my face right now,” Emma laughed as she looked in the mirror. “Fingers and toes now? God, I feel so pampered. I can’t get used to this.” They both picked crazy colors for their nails; Diana went with bright blue and Emma went with neon green. Then they sat down and it was like you’d see in the movies. A spa of hot water was placed at their feet and then a manicurist sat at their side to do their nails. “I could literally fall asleep right now.”

Diana felt her on a spiritual level. “Me too. My classes just keep getting harder and harder.”

“Well you had to expect that,” Emma said. “And for you, it’s only gonna get worse, but you’re like the smartest person in the world, so you’ll be fine. At least now, you’re actually being challenged.”

This much was true, but sometimes as she did her homework, she’d wonder if she’d gotten more than she bargained for. “True. But I can’t wait until the end of the semester.”

“Yea, you’re going on vacation with your dad and some of your family friends, right?” Emma and Alicia had actually planned a week-long getaway for their first week off too, as a delayed anniversary celebration. “Any of them have cute sons or daughters you could hook up with?” 

Diana smiled. Her ‘Uncle’ Derek and ‘Aunt’ Savannah would be there with Hank, the oldest, and the twins, Amaya and Penelope, and her ‘Aunt’ JJ and ‘Uncle’ Will would be there with Henry and Michael who would be taking off from school and work. “Well, Michael is going to be there, and so is Derek’s son Hank. The twins are too young for me and Henry is taken, so it’s between Michael and Hank. Both are hot, so I think I’m going to have them battle for my affections.”

“That’s my girl,” Emma laughed, high-fiving Diana after the manicure had dried. “Where is it again?”

“Sugarbush Resort in Vermont,” she said. Their time was almost up, so Diana pulled out the checkbook and wrote out the price without Emma seeing. Once everything was paid up, they left and got back into Diana’s car, but it was a while before either of them felt like they wanted to drive; they just sat in the car talking some more.

All of a sudden, Emma’s stomach grumbled. “As much as I appreciated the food in there, I’m ridiculously hungry. You wanna do dinner? My treat.”

“Yea that sounds great,” Diana yawned. “I want french fries.”

“But you’ll ruin your skin with all that oil,” Emma said sarcastically, reiterating what the woman had said earlier about a healthy diet going a long way to extending the results of the facial.

Diana shrugged. “Fuck that, I want fries.”

“Good. Me too.”


	68. The Battle Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana, Luke, Spencer, Derek, Savannah, and their three kids, Hank, and twins Amaya and Penelope, and JJ and Will, and their kids Henry and Michael head to Sugarbush Resort in Vermont for a "family" vacation.

“Ready to go?” Spencer called out. Everyone had been looking forward to this since Halloween. They had all just wanted to skip over Thanksgiving, enjoy Christmas, and then head out on their amazing road trip to Vermont. 

Everyone would be driving up separately and hopefully straight through so they would be at the resort by the end of the night. Occasionally, they stopped for gas and grabbed something quick to eat, but by the end of the night, everyone had arrived and checked into their suites, falling asleep almost immediately. Tomorrow was going to be amazing. Diana would be able to hang out with Hank, Amaya, Penelope, Michael and Henry, while her dads caught up with Derek, Savannah, JJ and Will. 

The next morning, Diana got dressed and ready to go tubing before waking up her dads. “Get up!” she screamed, laughing at the groans that came from their room. “It’s time to get up! I texted everyone and we’re gonna meet on the tubing hill in 20 minutes.”

Spencer and Luke roused from their bed and looked at their own phones. “How about we text them and the adults can go get breakfast?” Spencer said. Luke pointed out that at this point, even most of the kids were adults, but he knew what Spencer meant. “We’ll meet up with them later. They have energy and I need coffee.” After finalizing plans with Derek and JJ, Spencer and Luke told Diana they’d meet up later. “Have fun. Be safe. Call if you need us.”

Excitedly, she ran out of the cabin and toward the hill where they would go tubing. They didn’t have a ton of energy considering they were all in either high school or college, so skiing would have to wait for later. “Hey!” she screamed. Everyone looked so good. Although the twins weren’t that much younger than her, she felt years beyond them and they’d grown so much since she last saw them…so had Hank for that matter. It had been a long time since they’s seen each other in person. Hank had filled out, much like his father. He had his father’s nose and lips, but his mother’s eyes. It was like he was straight out of a magazine, and despite it being extremely cold out, she was heating up a bit. Then she panned over to Michael, and although he looked exactly the same, something was different about him…the way he held himself was reminiscent of someone who’d been through some shit and made it through the other side. She was so excited to catch up with everyone.

After giving everybody a hug, they grabbed their tubes and headed up the hill. “How’s school?” she asked Amaya and Penelope. They were the spitting image of Savannah.

“I can’t wait for high school to be over!” Amaya groaned, eliciting an eye roll from her brother. Diana laughed at his over-exaggerated movements. “Everyone is so petty. Everyone thinks they’re the center of the universe, and all the guys try to grab our asses.”

“Wait, say what now?” Hank interrupted. Apparently, he didn’t know about that. They’d gone to the same school and had frequently smacked down rumors regarding his sisters, but he never knew that they’d been touched, probably because the girls had inherited Savannah’s beauty and Derek’s ability to kick major ass. “I’ll smack a bitch if they touch you.” Penelope patted him on the arm.

“It’s okay,” she said, kissing her brother’s cheek. “Last guy that grabbed my ass got a swift kick to the balls.”

“Mom and Dad would be proud,” Hank smiled as they reached the top of the hill. He continued to threaten the lives of anyone who touched his sisters, while Diana situated herself in her tube alongside Henry and Michael. 

Alaina, Henry’s girlfriend, was spending the vacation with her family, and Michael, well, if Diana had to guess, she’d imagine he just got out of a relationship - a really bad one. “So, Michael how is school? And Henry, how’s Alaina doing?” Michael seemed to be grateful that she hadn’t asked about any romantic entangling because he didn’t feel like talking about it right now. Thankfully, he was loving school; he couldn’t wait to graduate and hopefully work alongside his mother. It was still his goal after all the years.

“Tell Diana about Alaina,” Michael said, raising his eyebrows and hitting his brother in the arm. They were interrupted momentarily as the resort worker pushed the group of tubes down the hill. All of them screamed like little kids as they flew down the fill. Once down the hill, they grabbed their tubes and headed back up. That’s when Henry pulled out his phone and swiped to the side, bringing up a picture of a sparkling diamond ring.

“I’m gonna ask her to marry me,” he said with a radiant smile. Henry had just started in a therapist’s office, while he worked toward his master’s degree in art therapy. He was getting paid decently, and Alaina was set up in her career as well, so it was perfect timing. They’d been dating for a little over three years. “I’m stupidly in love with her.” Michael just made a fake gagging noise and smacked Henry in the arm again. Diana couldn’t contain herself though; she loved Alaina - she was a perfect match for Henry.

After another run down the hill, they decided on one more before they’d meet up with their parents and go skiing. Each time they went down, they switched their places in the mass of tubes until Diana found herself between Hank and Michael. Again, they were pushed down the hill, getting violently thrown into a snowbank as they stopped. Diana was flung from the tube, as was Hank, and before she knew it, she found herself flush against Hank’s muscled body. Even through his coat, she could feel his abs. Jesus. When she looked over toward Michael, before awkwardly pushing herself off of Hank, she could’ve sworn she saw a look of jealously flash across his eyes. 

“You having fun there?” Derek said, drawing everyone’s attention to the now fully-rested adults. 

“Yup!” Hank said, popping off the ground. He seemed very satisfied with himself. 

As the entire group of them made their way up the hill to begin skiing, Spencer and Luke sidled up to Diana. “Did I see a little moment between you and Hank?” Luke asked.

Diana smirked. “No, not at all. But I think Michael might’ve been a little jealous of the non-moment.” When she looked back, she noticed Michael seemed a little sad. She made a mental note to ask him later what was up. Although they hadn’t seen each other in a while, they’d always been able to tell each other everything, so she hoped he’d tell her what happened that had made him so sad. “I’m still single, but it should be fun having them battle for my affections.”

“You make it sound like a duel,” Spencer laughed.

“Yes,” she smiled widely. “A battle to the death. And whoever wins might be lucky enough to win my hand…on a date.”

“Just be careful,” Spencer said. “I love your Uncle Derek very much, but he did have a tendency to date around, and from Morgan himself, Hank has been doing the same. And I sense Michael has just gotten out of a bad relationship.”

“I get that feeling too,” she said regarding Michael. But she wasn’t worried about Hank. She was not one to be pushed around, so if Hank was interested, and she reciprocated, she’d be up front and tell him it was just her, or he didn’t have her at all. Once they were up the hill, Hank helped his sisters get ready, tightening their boots before tightening his own. Michael seemed to be off by himself, so Diana went over to him and punched his arm playfully. “Smile, Michael. I mean I know you miss school,” she said, knowing that that wasn’t why he had the long face, “But you get to see me. What could be better?”

His laugh lines stretch as he smile. “This is true. Ready for me to kick your ass going down the hill?”

“If by kick my ass you actually mean eat my snow, the yes.”

“You’re on.”

Finally, for the first time since this morning, he’d started to smile. Later, when he was back in his funk, Diana made another mental note to ask him what was up. Sometimes, the best thing to do was talk things out.


	69. Catching Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the middle of their trip, everyone goes skiing, and both kids and adults find the time to catch up.

None of them had ever gone skiing before, at least out of the kids. The adults had been before. Luke, Derek, JJ and Will were of course amazing at it. Savannah hung on to her husband’s arm most of the time, and Spencer…well, Spencer had a grand old time falling every five seconds and looking up to his husband laughing at him. “You suck!” Spencer screamed. Henry and Michael were nearly doubling over in pain, and Diana was yelling at her Dad to help her poor Daddy up off the ground.

“You’re such a mean husband,” she laughed.

Luke rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m torturous! That’s why he’s still with me after more than 20 years.” Quickly, Diana and the rest of the kids got used to the bunny hill. Within their first hour, they’d gone on to one of the green circle runs. They were the easiest, and most of the time, Henry, Michael and Diana ran the course over and over again, while Hank helped his sisters, who although beautiful and brilliant, had inherited their mother’s coordination. 

After about two hours on the slopes, the entire group headed inside for some hot cocoa and warm, soft pretzels that they were selling. Diana sighed at the warmth radiating through the cup. “Ahhhhh….yes,” she said. “I wanna go back out in a little bit, but I was pretty sure I was going to freeze to death.”

While the adults sat near one end, the conversation naturally drifting to Bureau work (didn’t they ever get tired of it?), the kids sat at the other. “Okay, so babes,” Diana said, taking another sip of her cocoa as she turned toward Amaya and Penelope. They were in their second year of high school, born four years after Hank, which meant three years after her. “Do either of you have any idea what you wanna do in college?”

Excitedly, Penelope’s hand popped up and she went into an entire spiel about how she wanted to be a sound systems engineer. She’d had a knack for engineering for the longest time; she constantly pulled apart machines and put them back together in new and interesting ways. Amaya however, only had a small idea of what she wanted to do. For right now, she wanted to a veterinarian. “But honestly, that could change any minute.”

Hank had just finished his first semester at American University. It was between American and Georgetown, but he liked American’s Bachelor of Science in Public Health more, so that had been his deciding factor. “How’re your classes going, man?” Michael asked from across the room.

“Pretty good, man,” he replied. “They’re kind of difficult, but not too bad, and public health leaves me with a lot of different avenues, so I technically don’t have to decide what I want to do with my life yet, because fuck if I know.” Everyone laughed. Very few people knew like she and Michael what they wanted to do as an adult. How the hell were you supposed to commit to something like that anyway?

After Henry told everyone that he was planning proposing and they’d warmed themselves up with copious quantities of hot cocoa, everybody decided to return to the slopes. “I think, Michael, Henry and I are going to head toward one of the blue squares,” Diana said on the way out.

JJ and Will were going to head that way too, but Derek, Savannah, Luke and Spencer thought it best to stay on the green path. “If I go to the blue path, I might die,” Spencer said.

“I think I’m gonna stay here with my sisters too,” Hank said, watching as his little sisters stumbled on the barely bumpy path. 

So for now, they’d split up. Michael, Henry and Diana headed toward the blue run and the afternoon faded away quickly as the three raced down the slopes. Soon it was time to head in for the night, at least from the slopes. “Come on,” Michael begged. “One more run?”

Henry was getting tired, so he decided to head in, but Diana and Michael decided to go for one more run. About three quarters of the way down the slope, Diana lost her footing and knocked into Michael’s back, sending them both careening down the rest of the slope. Earlier, she’d found herself eye to eye with Hank, and now it was Michael. They’d kissed before and she could absolutely kiss him again, but she was convinced Michael was reeling from a bad break-up, so she excused herself and pushed up off the ground, pulling him with her. “Ready to go inside?” she asked. “Maybe we can have another cup of cocoa before bed.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Once they were inside, Diana and Michael sat alone in the living area in front of the roaring fire. “So, if you don’t want to talk about it let me know, but I can see that something is bugging you. What’s up?” When he hesitated, she told him that sometimes it was best to get things off your chest, and he seemed to have a lot of it.

“It’s just…I’ve been at school for a year and a half, and I started seeing this girl named Angelica.” He swallowed hard. Clearly, thinking about her was painful. Diana felt horrible for him. “Anyway, we started dating almost immediately and I thought she was absolutely amazing. Although I hadn’t told her I loved her, I did, and then, one day, when I came back from class, I found her in my dorm…in my roommate’s bed…naked…so…”

“Oh my god, Michael,” she replied. “I’m so sorry. She’s not worth you.”

He smiled softly. “Doesn’t make it any easier.”

“True…how long ago did you break it off?”

“About a month and a half ago,” he said, “I’m starting to get to the point where I’m just angry and feel stupid, but seeing our parents all together…my parents are happy, yours are happy, Derek and Savannah are happy, it just made me realize that I was once that happy and then she had to go and fucking cheat on me.” When he shoved his face into a pillow, Diana laughed.

“Well, the only time I was ever cheated on, I wasn’t actually sleeping with him, I just found him kissing someone else, but I kind of know how you feel, so I’m sorry. But she’s so not worth you.”

“Thanks, Di.”

“And one of these days, when you least expect it, someone will come out of the woodwork and be everything you ever wanted.” For another 30 minutes or so, the two sat and talked about school while sipping on their hot chocolates. When they were both ready to sleep for the night, Michael pulled her up off the couch. Out of instinct, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Night, Michael.”

“Night, Di,” he replied. 

“Oh, and Michael?”

“Yea?”

“Fuck her. Her loss.”


	70. Two for One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team and their families finish up their vacation at Sugarbush Resort and Michael and Hank both make a move on Diana.

The rest of the week flew by in the blink of eye. Nearly every day started with tubing, which the kids finally got their parents to try by the end. They enjoyed it so much that the adults tended to tube for longer than the kids. 

By the end, the twins were working on the blue courses by themselves, while Diana, Hank, Michael and Henry were able to try some of the easier black diamond courses. The entire group of them, adults included, fell on their asses more times then they could possibly count, and drank more hot cocoa than their bodies could actually maintain, but it was all worth it. Despite the time apart, they all melded together so easily. Blood wasn’t always thicker than water.

Today was their last day. Although they’d be going home to celebrate Christmas at home, which was always nice, Diana had had such a great time that she didn’t want to leave. She’d have to make the most of today. Everyone else felt the same, so alarms were set for 6 AM, leaving them all enough time to get ready and eat at the resort restaurant before heading to the slopes. “Hey,” Henry said, jabbing Michael in the arm as they walked down to breakfast a fair few paces behind Diana. “What’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing,” Michael said. Henry could tell his brother still had feelings for the woman he considered one of his best and oldest friends, and he wanted to see his brother happy.

“Well, I can tell you want it to be something. I know you only broke up with Angelica recently, but she sucks and I would hate to see you miss out on something with Diana.” Henry was so happy with Alaina, he hated to see Michael so miserable; God, he hated Angelica.

Michael shrugged. He’d just been so burned, he didn’t want to risk it again so soon. “I know what you mean, but I don’t know if I can right now. I don’t want to work through things while I’m with someone else, you know? It wouldn’t be fair to her.”

“True,” Henry said, “And I’m not saying you get into a full-fledged relationship right now, but I sense someone else has an interest in Diana, and if you wait too long…” He trailed off, carefully craning his head to where Hank was walking with his sisters. Michael looked ahead, wondering if his brother was right. Maybe he’d say something - although he honestly wasn’t sure what to say yet.

Meanwhile, Amara and Penelope had been having a similar conversation with Hank. “Are you gonna ask Diana out?” Penelope giggled quietly. She was very much the gossip, like her godmother and namesake. 

Hank liked her - a lot. There was no denying that. She was beautiful, ridiculously intelligent, nice, funny, but he also was just starting college, so he wasn’t sure if he wanted to tie himself down just yet. “I don’t know. Possibly,” he said. “Maybe I’ll just see if she wants to date right now, and put off the whole relationship thing, because I’m not sure about that right now.”

“Well, Diana is amazing,” Amaya whispered, “so if you think you want to, I’d do it quickly before someone else snaps her up.”

After breakfast, everyone went tubing, which Spencer and Luke particularly enjoyed because Spencer’s lanky ass body would frequently fly out of the tube placing him on top of his husband. Morgan key making fake gagging noises when they started kissing. “And we’re the children?!” Amaya laughed. “You’re all dorks.”

“We’ve earned the right,” Morgan laughed. “We’re old now.”

“Speak for yourself,” Spencer said. “I’m the kid, remember Old Man?”

“I should smack you.”

While the adults continued their tubing extravaganza, the kids decided they wanted to go skiing. Since it was the last day, the twins decided to try their hands at one of the black diamond runs. And the rest of them wavered between two different black diamonds. 

Diana couldn’t help but notice that the entire consisted of Michael and Hank trying to outdo one another, and she had a feeling she knew why. A knowing smile was exchanged between her and Henry at one point. He knew it too. After upping each other to the point of ‘they would kill themselves next,’ Hank looked toward a double black diamond course. “I’m gonna try that one. I’ll be back in a few.” Henry could see Michael looking toward Diana, so once Hank turned one way, he went down a separate path, leaving the two alone.

“Having fun?” Diana asked. “It sucks that this is our last day.”

“Yea,” he said, “But I am having fun. This has been great. Look…Di…” Diana smirked out of his line of view. “I’ve been thinking. I’m not ready for a full-on relationship all things considering, but would you wanna maybe go on a date again? Before I go back to school? See if something might be there?”

“Are you sure?” she asked. Although she liked Michael and could picture a relationship working between the two, she wasn’t sure if right now was the best time for him.

He nodded as they made there way down the hill together. “Yea, again, I wouldn’t want to get into a full-on relationship yet. I need to work through some issues myself before I do that, because it wouldn’t be fair to you. But maybe a couple dates, see if that first date was a fluke or not?”

“I’d like that,” she replied, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. They got to the bottom of the hill with ease and took the ski lift back up, waiting for Henry and Hank to return. 

Michael was glad he said something. He had to thank Henry. When they got back up, Henry and Michael went down a path, now leaving Hank and Diana alone. “I don’t wanna leave,” he said. “That means I’ll have to go back to class soon.”

“We have another three weeks for that,” Diana huffed. “Don’t wish my vacation away.” Playfully, she smacked him in the arm, as they started their way down the hill she’d run with Michael just moments earlier. 

Hank flashed his beautifully brilliant smile, a perfect combination inherited from both his parents, in Diana’s direction. “So Diana, I’ve got a question for you.” She made a note to ask her dads to keep her head on straight later, because right now, she was feeling pretty good. At first, she had just been joking about having Hank and Michael interested in her at the same time, but apparently she wasn’t far off the mark.”

“What is it?”

“I was wondering if you might want to go out with me at some point. Now that I’m going to be in the same state.”

“You the type for settling down?” Diana asked, a glint in her eye.

Hank laughed, but played along. “You the type that wants to settle down right now? You are only 17 after all.”

Diana snorted, nearly tripping over a bump but managing to outmaneuver it. “Not right now, but I also don’t want to be played with, Mr. Hank Morgan. Your reputation proceeds you.”

He smiled. At 18, he had developed a reputation for dating around - it was just that there were so many beautiful ladies around him. “Well, I can’t say that I’m looking for exclusivity right now or anything, definitely not into a serious relationship at the moment, but seeing if we’re even compatible, with a couple dates, I think that I could do.”

Diana’s Christmas break was going to be very, very interesting. “So, you’re cool with not being exclusive? I go on dates with other people and you do the same?”

“Yea, Di,” he said. “That’s cool by me. Let’s feel it out first.”

She was going to be going on a lot of dates in the next few weeks. 

Finally, the day was coming to a close and everyone needed to start the drive home. Everyone would be stopping at a motel at some point, considering the drive was a bit too long to go straight through the night, but they all said goodbye, promising that they’d do this big trip together again sometime. Although Derek, Spencer, Luke and JJ would all be in the same city now, Morgan was retired, and the rest were constantly working, so they didn’t get to see each other as much as they wanted. “So,” Spencer said as they pulled on the highway to go home, “How’d your vacation go? We were apart most of the time.”

As they drove, she told them all about her new skiing prowess, the amazing quantities of hot cocoa she ingested, and the newfound love for tubing. She asked them if they enjoyed their vacation too. Both of them had needed it, especially after her grandma’s death, and both her Dad and Daddy had had bigger smiles on their faces this past week than they had in a while. “But I haven’t told you the best part,” she laughed.

“What would that be?” Luke asked.

“Well, you know how I said that I would have Michael and Hank battling for my affections? I was kidding about that, but apparently they are both into me, so over the next few weeks I will be going out with the both.”

Spencer smiled from the front seat. “They both know that?”

“Yea,” she said. “She’d told Michael, she would also be seeing Hank and vice versa. “They are both cool with it for now.”

“Make sure you’re careful kiddo,” Luke said. “But I can’t blame them for both having it bad for you.”

Spencer looked back to where Diana was smiling down at her phone. She was still listening, but she was obviously texting one of them. “I mean, why wouldn’t they?” Spencer said. “We do have the best daughter in the world.”

“Oh, Daddy,” she said. “Stop, you’ll give me a big head.”

“A big one?” Luke laughed.

“Okay, a bigger one. Shut up!”


	71. First One Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Hank go on their first date.

“I’m a little nervous,” Spencer said to his husband that morning.

Luke pulled Spencer into his chest, confused as to what he was referring to. “About what?”

“Diana’s date with Hank,” he said truthfully. He knew that Morgan, and by extension his son, didn’t have a malicious bone in their bodies; they didn’t seek out to hurt people, but in their days at the Bureau together, Spencer had sent quite a few women away that Morgan had dated and dumped fairly quickly.

Hank was a good kid. Morgan and Savannah had raised him well, but he was 18, just starting college, and wanting to get out into the world. “I don’t think Hank would do anything purposefully to hurt her, but I can’t help that he’s a lot like his father was at that age. I mean Morgan even told me himself that he was a serious player in college. If Hank hurts our baby, I’m gonna…” He trailed off. He didn’t know what he was gonna. But if Hank hurt Diana, Spencer was gonna lose his shit.

As they got up from bed, Luke came around to give Spencer a hug. “I know. But we can’t be there at all times. She and they have to make their own mistakes. If you want, we can playfully threaten him when he comes to pick her up.”

“Okay,” he said, putting his head in his hands. “I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

“Me either, babe,” he said, “But we can’t predict the future.”

The doo-weee-ooo of Doctor Who rang through his head, and he pulled away pouting. “I could if I was The Doctor. I could take my magic Tardis and warn her.”

Luke pulled him in and kissed his forehead. “You’re a dork.”

“Your dork.”

—–

At 5 pm sharp, Hank showed up at the door. He wouldn’t tell Diana where they were going, but had told her to dress comfortably and make sure she wore really comfortable sneakers. “Hey Hank,” she said, standing on her tiptoes and giving him a hug. “You gonna tell me where we’re going now?”

“Not a chance,” he laughed, flashing her his brilliant smile. 

Spencer and Luke made there way outside, not so conspicuously acting like they’d just wandered outside. Diana reminded herself to tell them that although they made be great profilers, they were not slick at all. “Hey Uncle Spencer,” Hank said, giving his uncle a hug. “Hey Luke.”

“Hey, kiddo,” Spencer replied. “Be careful with her. You may be my namesake, but if you hurt my daughter I’ll have to kill you.”

Hank snorted as he playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Wouldn’t think anything of it,” he said genuinely. “I have a feeling she’d kill me first.”

“Damn straight,” she laughed. Before leaving, she gave both of her dads a hug and then they headed out the door. 

Fifteen minutes later, they ended up at some place Diana didn’t recognize. When they went through the building and out back however, she saw a giant set of walls with things jutting out at random sizes and angles. “Rock climbing?!” she said excitedly. “I’ve never been before.”

“Now, I am a traditional man too, so we’re gonna do dinner afterwards, but I figured this would be a different first date.” Hank seemed pretty proud of himself. 

They walked over to sign up and get gear. Hank had been to a similar place in Chicago many times before, having had most of his birthdays there. Diana was nervously excited, but by the time they were suited up and ready to go, she was just nervous. “You know, I’d like to think of myself as a badass, but now that I know we’re gonna be that high up, I think I want to pee my pants.”

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Take a deep breath. Don’t look down, and if you feel the need to look somewhere while we’re up there, look at me.” Hank put his feet in the first couple of footholds and grabbed on, but he waited for Diana to compose herself and join him. “Ready?” 

“Yea,” she said, looking up toward the ceiling. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Slowly, very slowly, but surely, Diana made her way up. About halfway, she was convinced she wasn’t going to be able to move in either direction and she’d have to die up there, but Hank talked her through it and she made it to the top. “Oh my god. How do I get down now?”

Hank got her attention and she looked to the side, watching as he slowly lowered himself with the use of a mechanism. Diana followed his lead, but took about half the time getting down as she had getting up. “That was so cool!” she said, pumping her hands up in the air. “Can we do it again? I think I can do it faster this time. Now that I know what to do and am fairly convinced I won’t die.”

“How about we see if you can get up in under five minutes?” he asked. 

“What do I get if I win?” Diana replied.

Hank thought about it for a moment before responding. “There is an ice cream place down the street from the restaurant we’re going to, so if you get up there in under five minutes, I’ll buy the ice cream in addition to dinner, and if you take more than five minutes, you buy the ice cream.”

“You’re so on, Morgan,” she said. “Ready…set…go!” This time she was much more sure of her footing and got about halfway up the wall unless than two minutes. Hank was ahead of her, but that wasn’t the deal, plus his limbs were longer. Automatic cheat. For a moment, she made the mistake of looking down and stopped dead in her tracks, but she closed her eyes, took two deep breaths and continued all the way up. “Time! Who’s paying for ice cream?”

Hank had stopped the stopwatch on his phone. “It looks like….I am. Four minutes and 38 seconds.”

“Woo!” Diana screamed, lowering herself down with ease this time. By the time the second run was over, they were both hungry, their stomachs growling louder than a hungry bear.

On their way to the restaurant, the two spoke about college, how they liked high school, their families, how the twins were doing in school. Everything was covered, and even more extensively as the night wore on. They stole each other’s food and by the time the bill came, both were nearly stuffed. “Do we have enough room for ice cream?”

“Well, you’re buying, so of course I do,” Diana laughed. “Ice cream falls between the cracks of all the other food.” Down the block, they both placed their orders. Hank got hard ice cream while Diana got soft serve. Towards the end of the cone, she just couldn’t help herself anymore and shoved the ice cream into his face.

“Your loss, Di,” he said, biting into her ice cream. “Now more for me!” He bit nearly half the cone off and then it dropped on the floor, so she ran after him and made him give her half of his ice cream.

He may have destroyed her ice cream, but all in all, it was a great night. Would Michael be able to beat this?


	72. Eat My Dust!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Michael go out on their date. Will Michael pull off an equally good one? Will he flail? Will he outdo Hank?
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)

Since her date with Hank three days earlier, Diana had texted back and forth with Hank a lot. Today, he’d be taking his sisters out for the day. 

\--Have fun! And say hi to Amaya and Penelope for me!--

Then she texted Michael to see when he would be picking her up for their date. 

\--5PM. And no I’m not telling you where we’re going yet.--

Why did everyone insist on surprising her? She was not a surprise girl, but whatever. For the rest of the day, she watched movies with her fathers. Another Disney day, like when she was a kid. Her childhood had been amazing, but those movie days stood out against the rest. 

Finally, 5PM rolled around and Michael knocked on the door. “Hey, Uncle Spencer,” he said, giving his beloved uncle a hug. “Hey, Luke. Hey, Di.”

“I’m last?” she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Michael laughed as he gestured to her fathers. “What? I have to impress them.”

“Take good care of her,” Spencer said, messing up Michael’s hair. “And I’ll tell you the same thing I told Hank the other day, hurt her, and I’ll kill you.”

“Daddy!”

“What?”

“Duly noted, Uncle Spencer,” Michael replied with a smile. “See you later.”

Once they headed out the door, Diana asked for the third time where they were going on their date. Michael had had a ton of ideas in mind, but considering it was the middle of winter, most of those were out of the question. His other idea had been a planetarium, and although he still liked that idea, it was too close to what they did for their first dat at the museum a couple years earlier. “Shitty pizza, greasy cheese fries, and bowling,” he smiled.

“Oh, yes, get ready to get your ass kicked Michael LaMontagne,” she said as she punched his arm and they got in the car.

Five minutes later, they walked into the bowling alley, which wasn’t all that crowded and ordered a personal pizza and an order of cheese fries to split. Then they got their lane. When Diana started to pull out her wallet, Michael placed his hand over hers. “Can I pay, please? I mean I know we went on one date before, and even though it was two years ago, I feel like that didn’t count. This is our first real date and I wanna pay.”

She scrunched up her face, quietly slipping the wallet back into her bag. “Fine, you pay this time, and subsequent dates, we split unless stated otherwise.”

“Deal.” He smiled and pulled out his own wallet, paying for the alley for three games, the clown shoes they’d wear and their deliciously greasy food. 

As they went over to the alley, they decided to wait for their food before beginning their first game. “So we’re already going on subsequent dates?” he asked with a little smile.

“Of course,” she said. “We’ll date for a little bit while you figure out your issues with that skank you call an ex-girlfriend and I’ll also date Hank for a little while and see if he feels like being a one-woman man, and then I’ll have to figure things out from there.” She shrugged, not really knowing how she’d handle things if both Michael and Hank worked out in her favor. All she knew was that she was a one-person kind of girl. “I figure when you back to school, we can try Skyping once a week, considering we won’t able to do much else. Frankly, even if we weren’t trying out this whole dating thing, I’d want to try Skyping because I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” he said. An employee came up behind him and placed their food on the table nearby. Both dug into a slice of pizza, the cheese pulling slowly away from the slice and falling onto Diana’s chest. 

“Ow! It burns!” she screamed. Quickly, she pulled the cheese off of her and put it in her mouth. “Don’t expect me to be a dainty eater.”

“You?” Michael laughed. “No fucking way. Ready to get your ass kicked?”

“Again, so cocky,” she said, remembering their vacation when he challenged her to a race down the slopes. “I will make you eat your words…while I eat cheese fries.”

They each picked out a ball. Diana told Michael to go first. “I wanna see how badly I’m gonna whip your ass.” 

“Bumpers or no bumpers? Because let’s face it, we both suck at this,” Michael said.

She had to admit neither one of them were good at this, but it was just as fun to suck. “Bumpers? No bumpers. They are for the weak.” She grinned.

Michael spun around, did his best to nail down a bowler’s stance and then threw the ball down the lane. One pin. He huffed and turned around to see Diana cracking her knuckles. “Easy peasy,” she said. 

“Yea, go ahead and gloat. I’m gonna be eating cheese fries.” With a fake sneer, she turned around and set herself up. All she’d have to do was get two pins and she could throw it in his face. 

As the ball glided down the lane, it seemed so slow, but it got there and knocked down four pins. “Woo! In your face!”

“We shall see,” Michael said menacingly. The first game went handily to Diana. She got 94 and Michael got 78. “Okay, we truly suck at this.”

Diana giggled, picking up the last remnants of cheese fries and shoving them in her face. “Yes, we do, but I think it’s more fun to suck at bowling honestly. Game two?”

This time, both did better. Diana got 113 and Michael beat her by two points. “Fuck!” she cried. “Good thing we have three games because I need to beat your ass.”

“God, you’re malicious,” he replied. “Do you want more crappy cheese fries? I’m still hungry.”

“Only if you top them with bacon this time.”

Michael’s eyes went wide. “Oh, you genius, you.”

Once he returned, they started their third and final game, both bowling strikes to start out. By the third go around, their bacon and cheese fries came and Michael was up by 6. “I just needed more food in me,” Diana said. “Get ready to lose.” 

She went up again, getting five pins, then three, leaving Michael needing a spare or a strike to stay ahead. Finally…the final round. Michael was behind. He needed at least a strike to tie her - two to beat. And she’d have to screw up.

He bowled a strike.

Then she did too.

Then he went up and bowled down six pins.

With a deep breath, Diana winked at Michael and walked up to the lane, gently gliding the ball down the lane….going…going…strike! “Oh, eat my dust Michael!”

Dramatically, he collapsed onto his knees and screamed out, drawing the attention of fellow bowlers who started laughing at them. “Oh well,” he said, getting up with a laugh. “I got cheese fries and got to bowl with a pretty girl.”

She smiled and grabbed her things as they got ready to get going. During their second game, they decided to just drive around for a little while to catch up some more. “Oh, Michael,” she giggled. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”


	73. For Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana continues to date both Michael and Hank. All three of them are good with the situation as is.

Winter break had flown by entirely too quickly. There was no way Diana was in the last semester of her second year. But here she was. It felt as though she’d grown up immensely in the last two years. Maybe she had, or maybe her mind was playing tricks on her, but all she knew was that she was in a much different place than she had been just two years earlier.

Before starting her semester, she went on a couple more dates with both Hank and Michael, and for now, both seemed fine with the arrangement as it was. Frankly, Diana was good with it too. She got to go out with both of them, who she cared about deeply. Most of the time, they’d pay, which was nice. And she’d gotten to the point where she was able to consistently make out with two hot guys. 

Diana assumed that at one point she’d want to single out one of them. For the long haul, she didn’t imagine herself being with more than one person, but right now, when her main focus was still school, it was fun just to have fun. Diana didn’t feel a pull toward either at the moment. She’d told them both that she didn’t care if they also went out with other women, or men if they were so inclined. All she asked was that if that relationship turned sexual, they let her know, because she wanted to make sure she protected herself.

Since school had started, Hank had taken her up on that offer, going out with one other woman, who’d actually gone to the same high school as him back in Chicago. Michael on the other hand was only seeing Diana, as he was still working through his failed relationship with Angelica. 

Hey, Di. Dinner tonight?  
Hank had texted between classes. Diana’s stomach growled at the thought. 

Absolutely. Where are we going?  
She knew she was craving something, but she had no idea what.

Thai place on Third?  
Oh, yes. That was it. Thai. After finalizing plans, she went to class, hoping the day would pass by quickly so she could go spend time with Hank. 

Once her last class of the day let out, Diana headed home to get changed before her date with Hank. Her current clothes looked fine, but she desperately wanted to jump in the shower and put on something slightly more comfortable. In the midst of running around, her phone rang. “Hey, Di,” Michael said.

“Hey! How’s school?”

“We’ve been back in classes for a week and I’m already swimming in papers and random assignments.”

Ah, school life. “Seriously, how does that happen?”

“No fucking clue,” he laughed. “What are you up to?”

“Well, right now, I am pulling on super comfortable jeans because I’m going out for Thai food with Hank, but it’s good you called because I was wondering if we could have a Skype date at the end of the week.”

Facetiously, he laughed and spoke in his most highfalutin voice. “I will absolutely pencil you in for a Skype date on…Saturday?”

“That sounds good to me, sir,” she laughed. “I gotta go though, I can hear Hank at the door. Call me if you need me though or if you just want to vent about your whore of an ex-girlfriend.”

He was finally getting to the point where he was just angry with her, rather than sad. “I will,” he replied. “And tell Hank I said hi.”

“Done! Talk to you soon.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up, when Diana ran to the door. Unfortunately, her fathers were both away on a case, so she wasn’t able to say goodbye to them before she left. She did however text them to let them know where she was and what she was doing. 

Going out with Hank. Be home later. How’s the case going?  
Minutes later, while in the car with Hank, she got a reply that the case was going fairly well and they’d probably be home the next day. “I am so hungry,” Hank said, leaning back in his seat as he drove. “I barely ate all day.”

“Me too,” she replied. “Classes had me busy. I wanna be a doctor, but damn this is hard.” 

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Oh, Michael says hi. I’m Skyping with him on Saturday.”

“Nice! You can tell him I said hi too. How’s he doing with school?” 

“Already swimming in papers.”

“How does that happen so quickly?”

The two fell into easy conversation as they drove to the restaurant, talking about classes, parents, exes, the whole nine yards. That was one thing Diana really liked about Hank - their conversations were simple and flowed well. “How’s your other lady friend…Pia is her name right?”

“Yea,” he laughed. “We went to school together in Chicago. She also wants to be a doctor. Oncology though.”

“Good for her,” Diana said. “That’s one field I’m not sure I would be able to specialize in.”

“Me either,” he replied. “Oh, before I forget, I was thinking that every morning we should send each other memes.”

Diana smiled. “I am absolutely up for that. Oh. My. God…I just realized, if you put our names together…”

“We would be Dank!” They said simultaneously. Hank continued as they got out of the car. “Exactly! So I feel like we’re failing if we don’t send each other dank memes ever morning.”

Diana pulled out her phone while Hank got them a table and pulled up an oldie but a goodie, sending it to him. “Oh fuck, that’s an old one,” he chuckled. “Caveman spongebob. Always great though. Don’t worry, I got you tomorrow morning.”

“Looking forward to it,” she laughed. Both of them unsurprisingly chose pad thai, Diana got chicken and Hank got seafood, and then again, they fell into easy conversation.

Although life was hectic (school was killing her and her fathers were consistently away on cases meaning she saw them less), she finally felt like she was in a good place. After Malin left and her grandmother died, she wasn’t sure how she was going to recover, but with her fathers, Hank, Michael, Emma and the rest of her friends by her side, she’d made it through. Finally - she was feeling happy and hopeful.


	74. History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana has a Skype date with Michael, a conversation with Hank, and then a decision is made.

The rest of the week went by in a blur. Diana and Hank had gone back and forth, and not just in the mornings, texting each other glorious memes. When people asked why, they said it was because their couple name was Dank, which everyone seemed to enjoy. The likes of Chemistry Cat, the Most Interesting Man Alive, Condescending Willy Wonka, Doge, and Success Kid were hurled back and forth. Sure there were more recent memes available, but Diana and Hank had a thing for the old ones - the classics, if you will. 

By the time Saturday came around, Diana was really looking forward to Skyping with Michael. Although it had flown by, she’d gotten a lot of work and really wanted to take her mind of school for a while before delving into a mountain of textbooks for the remainder of the weekend. 

“Hey!” Michael said as the computer screens kicked on. “How’re you?”

“Going to be drowning in homework for the rest of my life apparently,” she laughed. “I wanna get my mind off of it first. What about you? How’s your week been?”

“Could’ve been better,” he said honestly, shrugging his shoulders as his roommate walked in. “I saw Angelica walking around hand-in-hand with the guy she decided she wanted to fuck instead of me, but I’m past the point of it ripping my heart out, and slowly but surely heading to the point where I’m just pissed off.”

Diana felt so bad for him. From what he’d already told her, he had a few close friends at school, but most of them were at home. Seeing Angelica on top of that couldn’t have been easy. “I’m sorry, Michael,” she said softly. “I wish you were here then I could just punch her in the face for you.”

“That I’d like to see,” he laughed softly. “You actually look like you’ve been having a tough week. Grandma again?” That was one thing about Michael. He always knew when Diana was in a bad place. Her grandmother’s death had been less than a year ago, but nearly a year, and she was having a particularly bad week when it came to missing her.

She smiled softly, leaning back in her chair to grab the pillow her Grandma had bought her years earlier. It had a quote from Shakespeare on it - one of Diana’s favorites. “And though she be but little, she is fierce.” Curling it up into her, Diana returned to Michael’s field of view. “Yea,” she replied. “It’s been a bad week. Probably because I’m stressed from school. When everything gets overwhelming, I tend to miss her more.”

“Makes sense,” he replied. “I’m looking forward to finishing up the year and coming home for the summer. Then only one more year of this and I can apply to the Academy.”

“It’ll be really nice to have you home again.” 

For a few moments, a bout of silence hung between them. “Hey?” He said out of nowhere. “I have an idea.” Although she was smiling, he could tell she was still thinking about her grandmother. He left the screen and she heard him rummaging through his shelves for something. “Close your eyes,” he said.

“Why?”

“Just do it,” he laughed.

Reluctantly, she closed her eyes and a moment later, she heard him start to speak. By the time he finished the first sentence, she knew what he was reading. Like her grandmother used to, he softly spoke the words of the first book of Harry Potter, lulling her off to sleep before he hung up, wishing her good night.

—-

Diana was two years through a five-year program. Summer was finally here, and she’d be 18 in less than a week. Over the rest of the semester, she’d gone out with Hank constantly, and hopped on Skype whenever she had the chance. Steadily, she developed feelings for both the men in her life, and she wasn’t sure what it was, but she knew the feelings were different.

Hank was fun. There was rarely a time she wasn’t laughing while she was with him. Their meme exchange had reached an unhealthy level, which only made them do it more. He was also sweet and kind, but despite a few conversations about the topic, she wasn’t sure where she stood in the context of his life. Michael on the other hand was very romantic. She’d realized it the night she fell asleep to him reading Harry Potter. It had taken him quite a while to get over Angelica and stop bringing her into his every thought, but he was finally there. With Michael, the downside was not having him close. It was hard to keep a relationship, no matter how fleeting or serious, when they were separated by 100′s of miles. 

She knew she loved them both, but she wasn’t sure in what way yet. She still had to sort out her thoughts. Whenever she did though, she really hoped she’d be able to stay close to whoever she didn’t choose. Maybe dating two of her friends had been a mistake.

—-

Another few weeks went by before she was able to fully sort out her thoughts and when it came down to it, she loved Hank, but she was in love with Michael. Hank and her Dank meme exchange was amazing, and she did love him, but it wasn’t in that way. She sensed he felt the same way, but she couldn’t be sure. Somehow, she had to break it to Hank that she wanted to see Michael exclusively. God, this was going to suck.

Hey, Di. Can we get together after class today?  
Well, at least she would be able to get this over with soon. He was taking a summer course to get a jump on things.

Sure. Everything okay?  
He texted back shortly after, saying he was fine. Nearly four hours later, they were finally able to get together at the local pizza place. “Hi, Di,” he said, walking up to her and wrapping his arms around her. “How’s being off for the summer?”

“Great,” she said happily. “I get to sleep late again. Probably the last summer I’ll ever be able to do that because next summer I’ll have an internship. You okay?” He looked sick.

“Yea, I’m fine.”

“You’re lying,” she said. “Tell me.”

She reached across the table to put her hand on his, a gesture of reassurance. As he took her hand, he attempted to speak. “I have no idea how to start this, so I’m just gonna say it-”

Diana cut him off. “You want to date Pia, don’t you?” she asked with a smile. 

“How did you know?” He looked stunned. Never did Hank look like his father more then when he was confused. “I didn’t even know until this past week.”

She shrugged. “I’ve had a feeling. I got this sense that both of us enjoyed spending time with the other, but we didn’t feel that way about each other. I’m good, Hank.”

“So, we can still be friends?” he asked hopefully. She’d never seen him so vulnerable before. “We can go our separate ways and still exchange dank memes every morning? Maybe occasionally go out as friends?”

“Yea,” she said. That had gone better than she thought it would. She started to giggle. “That actually works out.”

“Because you wanna date Michael?”

“Yup.”

Hank smiled, standing up and enveloping her in another strong hug. “You know, I thought you guys would end up together when we were little. I know we didn’t get to see each other all the time because I was in Chicago, but when I saw you together, I just kind of got that feeling. I hope it works out for you.”

“Me too, and you too,” she laughed. “Anything in particular that made you think Pia was the one for you?”

He smiled, looking a lot like her Daddy when he was nervous. He started to shuffle his feet and she could’ve sworn she saw a blush rise to his cheeks. “Honestly, I think we just have a connection from way back. We went to junior high and high school together. Kind of like you and Michael. History, ya know?”

“Yea, I do,” she said. After another few moments of hugging, she pulled away. “Well, both of us look a little lighter now. Pizza?”

“Gods, yes.”


	75. No Matter How Far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's Uncle Rossi invites everyone from their famed BAU team, and their families, over to his mansion for a giant family get together.

When you spend day-in and day-out with a group of people, whether you’re related or not, they tend to become family. Going through what the BAU had been through, it made sense that despite the distance now between them, Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Penelope Garcia, Jennifer Jareau and Emily Prentiss never failed to keep in touch with each other. No matter the miles apart, they all managed to stay a part of each other’s lives. 

Since Morgan’s return to DC, Rossi decided that as a man in his 80′s, what better thing to do than host a dinner at his still sprawling mansion. He was calling in extra help considering that it would just be the former BAU, but their families as well, but he’d been texting everyone all week about how excited he was for the team to get back together again.

“How many people is Uncle Rossi hosting?” Diana asked, pulling a pretty and comfortable sundress over her body. Both her fathers had worked with him for many years before he retired, but her Daddy in particular had worked with him for more than two decades. After a man named Jason Gideon had left the Bureau, her Daddy had found her Uncle Rossi filling in the hole in his heart. 

As she came outside, she noticed the smiles on both of their faces. She loved her “aunts and uncles” more than anything, so she couldn’t imagine how they felt. “Well,” Spencer said. “You, me and Dad, Morgan, Savannah, Hank, Amaya and Penelope, JJ, Will, Michael and Henry, plus his fiancée, Alaina, Emily, Garcia, Rossi, and his daughter and her family, and Hotch, who’s bringing along Jack, his wife, and baby Jack…so lots of people.”

“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” she laughed. “I can’t wait to see baby Jack in person again. He’s getting so big.”

“Yea, tell me about it,” Luke laughed, following Diana and Spencer out the door.

—-

Just 15 minutes later, they rolled up to Rossi’s door. “My favorites,” he said as he opened the door, giving Spencer, Luke and Diana the famed, Italian, two-sided kiss. 

“I bet you said that to all the ladies,” Diana teased.

“Guilty,” he replied. “That’s how I ended up with three ex-wives.

As he ushered them inside, Diana pulled to side and immediately scooped baby Jack up off the floor. “Hello, baby,” she said, staring down at the now two-year-old boy with his father’s hair and his mother’s eyes. “He’s so big already.”

“Tell me about it,” Hotch said, standing up to give Diana a kiss on the forehead. “There’s no way I’m old enough for this. What are you 18 now?”

She laughed. She didn’t really feel 18, and yet she also felt much older than 18. Her Uncle Hotch, Jack, his wife, and the baby were the first ones here, followed by her Diana and her dads. After her Uncle Morgan showed up with Savannah, Hank, Amaya and Penelope, her Aunt Penelope showed up with Aunt Emily, and last to show up, as per usual was her aunt JJ.

Crossing the room, Diana grabbed Michael’s hand and leaned up to give him a kiss. “What took you guys so long?” she laughed. 

“Henry said he spilled something in the apartment, so that’s why it had taken him so long to drive over by Mom and Dad, but I’m pretty convinced he and Alaina were in the middle of something and that’s why it took so long,” he laughed, gathering her toward him by her waist. “This cannot be baby Jack.” He leaned down to scoop him up and Jack responded happily, smacking Uncle Mikey’s face with all he could muster. 

While Michael was preoccupied with the baby, her phone buzzed - it was Hank with a slew of memes. They dank meme competition was getting out of control, but she hoped it never ended. “How you doing, baby girl?” her Uncle Derek said as he swayed across the room. 

“Better not let Aunt Penelope hear you calling me that,” she laughed, distracted a bit with her phone. “Sorry, Hank is distracting me with memes.”

“I’m old now, I can’t keep track,” he laughed. While the rest of dinner was cooking, and her Uncle Rossi was dancing across the kitchen with his pancetta, the old team, plus Luke of course, gathered around to reminisce about old times - some bad, but mostly good. They’d been through so much together. 

While the former BAU gathered around Rossi, Diana sat with Hank, Amaya, Penelope, Henry, Alaina, Michael, Jack, his wife, and baby Jack. “Where’s Pia?” Diana asked.

“She has a test to cram for unfortunately,” he replied, pulling out his phone to text her. “We both regret taking a summer class.”

“Well, next break, you should both take a break.”

—-

Across the room, the BAU watched in awe as their kids got on, talking about anything and everything, taking pictures and occupying the newest edition to the BAU family. “How did we get this old?” Will asked in his still Southern as hell drawl. Even after being in Virginia for more than 20 years, his accent was still thick as hell. “Our youngest is dating yours who can’t possibly be 18. You Morgan has three kids. Hell, Jack as a mini Jack, where did the time go?”

For a moment, the group looked over at their kids in awe. An impressive group they were. “Time flew,” Spencer said, squeezing Luke’s hand softly. “I don’t know how we got so lucky though.”

They sat there is silence for another couple moments before JJ leaned into Spencer. “I used to joke about it when they were little, but I think we might just end up in-laws one day.”

Spencer leaned in slightly to kiss her on the forehead before Rossi broke the silence. “Okay everyone! Dinner is served! Come on over!” Passing out flutes of champagne for everyone, he started in on his famous Rossi toasts. “Of course I have to say a few words. I’ll try not to ramble, but I am in my 80′s now, so there are no guarantees. I have no idea how the fates came together and made us cross paths, but it has been one of the greatest joys in my life to get to know you all, make you family, and watch yours grow. It just proves that no matter the miles between us, we remain a family. Salut!”

“Salut!” Everyone shouted. 

It was followed by a very small, very frail, “Saloo!” from Jack, who was now raising his apple juice cup.


	76. Debatable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Spencer and Luke are away on a case, Diana and Michael have a little moment alone. But are they really alone?

“Hey, Michael,” Diana said as she opened the door. They were both finally off from school for the summer. Diana had two more years to go in her Bachelor’s Degree/Master’s Degree program, and Michael had one more year to go before he could return home and apply to the academy. “I’ve missed you too.”

Michael stepped into the house and took Diana’s face in his hands, pressing their lips together before he looked around the house. “Your dads home?”

“No,” she said with a smile. “They’re gone on a case.” She sucked in her lips, realizing that they had a little alone time. “Sexy times.” She giggled against his chest as she closed and locked the door before grabbing his shirt and pulling him toward her bedroom. “This long distance thing sucks.”

Michael kissed down her neck and chuckled against her. “It absolutely sucks. One more year, and then I’ll be home.”

“True,” she said as she locked her own door. “But then if you’re able to join the Bureau, you’ll get taken away on cases. What’ll I do without you?” she feigned. Michael laughed. Diana was not the type to sit around at home and wait for him to come home.

“You’ll be an amazing doctor and when we get time together it’ll be all that much sweeter. You’ll be saving lives and I’ll be saving lives and then we’ll get to come home to each other.” He brought her hands up to his face to kiss them.

Diana liked that idea. She never wished to be the stay-at-home mom; it wasn’t for her. But she did want a monogamous relationship and a family one day. More and more, she realized that she wanted it with Michael. He knew how to make her happy on the worst of days, and loved her no matter what. “That sounds about right. At least for the first years, if you’re away on cases, I’ll be in med school.”

“Okay enough of that kind of conversation,” he said with a laugh, lifting her up by her waist and backing her up against the door. “I’ve missed sexy times with my girlfriend.”

Diana brought her legs around his waist and tightened her grip, anchoring herself to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. “Me too,” she whispered. The minutes passed quickly as clothes were shed and dropped onto the floor. Eventually, the two found themselves in bed, breathing heavily. 

Knock. Knock.

“Hello, kids,” Spencer said from outside the locked door. 

Diana grimaced. They hadn’t even heard them come in. “What are you doing here, Daddy? I thought you and Dad were on a case?”

“We were,” Luke replied with a tone that said he knew exactly what had been happening on the other side of the door. “But we’re amazing, and we wrapped up the case, so we’re home now.” 

After a few moments of silence, during which time the two pulled their clothes back on, Spencer laughed. “Hello, Michael.”

Michael laughed under his breath and leaned against the door. “Hi.” The way he said it made Diana burst into a fit of laughter. Spencer and Luke walked away, unpacking their go-bags before going down to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Eventually, Diana and Michael made their way out of Diana’s room. “Hi again.”

“Hi, Michael,” he laughed. “Glad to be home from school, I see.”

“Shut up.”

Spencer snorted, handing him a bottle of water. “You two having a good time?” Luke asked with a smirk.

“Don’t even!” Diana laughed. “I walked in on you as a kid.”

“When?” Spencer asked. He remembered everything; he never remembered scarring his daughter for life. The last thing he wanted to think was that she’d walked in on her parents having sex.

Diana saw the shocked looks on their faces and she smiled that tight-lipped smile her Daddy did when he knew something no one else did. “As a kid, I saw you making out plenty of times, and although I saw nothing, I was three, and I saw the two of you under the covers. After the fact. But when I think back, I know something had just happened.”

“Goddammit,” Luke muttered under his breath.

Diana slapped them both on the back, grabbed a bottle of water, and jumped onto Michael’s back, pointing him back toward her room. They probably weren’t going to do anything. With them back from the case, Michael would probably stop by home first to say hello to his parents and brother. But it was still fun to fuck with her fathers. The thing was, they knew how to fuck with her too. “Don’t have too much fun in there,” her Dad called out. 

She heard them high-five each other like dorks and then she heard her Daddy. “Use protection!” he laughed.

“Daddy!”

Michael ran with her inside and closed the door again, giving her a kiss before picking up his bag. “I’m gonna go say hi to my mom and dad and brother. Dinner tonight?”

“Sounds good,” she laughed. “I think my dads ruined the mood anyway.”

“I’d say so,” he laughed. “See you later. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

As Michael ran out the door to head back home, he said goodbye to Spencer and Luke. Diana smiled after him and closed the door behind him. Then she turned around. “Really Daddy?! Use protection! I’ll kill you.” 

“I’m sorry, I’ll never do that again, but that was so much fun for us,” he giggled. Water almost came out of his nose. 

Diana flopped onto the couch and grunted. “I’m going to kill you slowly. Both of you.”

“No you won’t,” Luke said, standing up and giving her a kiss as Spencer was still doubled over in painful laughs. “You love us.”

“Debatable.”


	77. Internship Hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana seeks out her second internship.

How’s the internship hunt going?  
Diana pulled her phone out of her pocket to a message from her boyfriend. Although he meant it in the best and most loving of ways, she wanted to snap. How was it going? HOW WAS IT GOING? It wasn’t going. That was the problem. Anyone in the program had been assigned their first internship, but this time, each student had to seek out his or her own, and despite being a child prodigy at the age of 18, that didn’t always work in her favor. Already she’d been turned down by three people because ‘no one would trust an 18-year-old doctor.’

She didn’t want to sound like a cocky asshole, but she knew for a fact she was better suited to the internships she’d applied to thus far more than most of her peers - some of whom had the merits, but others who had money or nepotism at their backs. 

It’s not going! It sucks. I’m panicking. If I don’t have an internship by the start of the semester, I’m fucked. Straight fucked.  
Michael felt awful for her. Especially because there was nothing he could do.

I’m sorry I can’t do more, but I’m here if you need me.  
She smiled at her phone. Michael couldn’t do anything else, just being there while she panicked was enough. Quickly, she texted him back, saying she was going to apply to a few more internships and then they could meet for dinner. He was out for the day helping Henry pick out a suit for his wedding to Alaina. Apparently, Henry was panicking too. 

After putting away the phone, she went searching once more. The three internships she’d already applied for had been filled. The applicants had money and privilege, so although they had merits as well, she assumed their money got them in, considering her merits far exceeded theirs. All of them had been through the University hospital, so she decided to venture outside, even though it was notoriously harder to obtain an internship outside the University when one had no connections.

Considering she eventually wanted to be a pediatric surgeon, she thought it best to seek out an internship with the Children’s National Medical Center. After going through phone number after phone number trying to get a hold of someone to speak to, she insisted on talking to the director of particular division she wanted to apply to. Her aunt JJ had taught her how to take control of a conversation, but as soon as the director was on the phone, Diana felt like she wanted to throw up. “Hello, my name is Diana Alvez-Reid and my hope is to pursue an internship over the course of my fourth year of study at Georgetown University.”

“We do residencies and fellowships, not internships,” the woman said quickly, nearly about to hang up the phone.

“I understand that, Dr., but I also understand that you are constantly looking to expand the hospital’s horizons and hire the best of the best.”

“And you’re one of the best, Ms. Alvez-Reid? You said internship, which means you’re an undergraduate.”

“My undergraduate status does not take away from my skills, Dr. Abdullah.” With a tone that got the doctor to listen, she listened while Diana listed off her credentials. She told her how she started college at 15, what her plans were, where she wanted to study and who under. I come from a long line of people who defy expectations, Dr. Abdullah, and if you allow me to even meet with you to discuss the possibility of an internship, I can guarantee you won’t regret it.”

The doctor took a deep breath, making Diana’s heart skip a beat. If she could even get in for an interview, she’d be better off than she was a moment ago. “Okay. When is the soonest you can come in for an interview? It would have to be within the next three days.”

“I can come in two days from now, anytime after 1pm, whenever works for you, Dr. Abdullah.”

“2:30, Ms. Alvez-Reid. Don’t make me regret this.”

“I won’t.”

The second she hung up, her fathers walked in and she clutched her stomach. “You just get off the phone?” Luke asked. Subtly, Diana nodded her head. She felt green. She wanted to vomit.

“What’s wrong?” Spencer asked. “Internship troubles?”

Diana swallowed hard and met their gaze. “I just got an interview with Dr. Salimah Abdullah.”

“From the Children’s National Medical Center?” Spencer asked with a smile. He was barely holding back his desire to beam with pride. “They don’t do internships.”

“I know,” she said. She honestly never thought she’d be able to convince her. But she had. “Now, in two days, I have to convince her to hire an 18-year-old undergraduate, even though they have never done that ever.”

Spencer pulled out his phone, begging her to allow him to mass text everyone how proud he was. “Can I go on the interview first?” she asked. “I don’t want to get my hopes up and then embarrass myself if I don’t get it.”

Reluctantly, he put his phone back in his pocket and kissed her on the forehead. “You could never do that. But I’ll wait.”

“Thank you, Daddy…oh my god, I wanna vomit.”

Both Luke and Spencer laughed, wrapping their arms around her. For the next two days, they drilled every question the Doctor might ask.

She was as ready as she’d ever be.

—-

After getting dressed in the sharpest suit she owned, complemented by a deep red silk blouse and matching heels, Diana walked into the Institute, the section where Dr. Abdullah worked, hoping she wouldn’t throw up on the doctor’s shoe. When she walked in, the doctor’s secretary was taken aback by Diana’s now purple hair, but she told Diana to take a seat and the doctor would be with her soon.

Nearly 15 minutes later, she came out of her office and greeted Diana with a strained smile and a full head-to-toe glance, taking her in. “It’s nice to meet you,” Diana said. “And I appreciate you giving me the time. You won’t regret it.”

The doctor turned and ushered for Diana to follow her into her office. “So, Ms. Alvez-Reid, you’re an undergraduate at Georgetown. I went there for medical school myself. You’re studying?”

“I’m moving into my fourth year of a dual Bachelor’s/Master’s degree program in human science and tumor biology,” she said. Her answers were going to be short and to the point.

“And where do you hope to attend medical school and what would you like to pursue?” She’d been over this the other day, but addressed it just the same.

Diana sat up straight and made direct eye contact. “I’ll be studying at Johns Hopkins, specializing in pediatric surgery.”

“You will be?” The doctor asked with a small smile. 

She wanted to remain confident, not cocky. “I haven’t been admitted yet, Dr. Abdullah, but I am more than confident in my merits.”

“If we were to offer you something here, which is not a guarantee, and also not fully up to me, which department would you work in?”

“Neonatology.”

“The NICU,” she said, clearly impressed by Diana’s confidence. “That’s not for everyone. It can be very draining.”

“I have no doubt that it can be, Doctor, but I have grown up with two fathers that work in a draining profession. I’ve asked them before why they continue to do it, and every time, they say that every person they save makes the ones they can’t worthwhile.”

The doctor was somewhat hard to read, but Diana felt confident that she was impressing her. She hadn’t ushered her out yet, so that was a plus. “What do your fathers do?” A personal question, Diana thought to herself. Good sign.

“They are both profilers with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. They hunt serial killers,” she said, her own voice laden with pride. Her dads were her heroes.

Dr. Abdullah lowered her shoulders and smiled. She was relaxing. For a few more moments, the two conversed about her fathers’ jobs, her own studies, and even the doctor’s children. “Well, Ms. Alvez-Reid, I have to admit that when I said you could come in for an interview, it was because I didn’t have any surgeries scheduled for the next few days and I was interested to see the woman behind the phone, but I didn’t think that I was going to want to put my neck on the line and bring up the possibility of taking on an intern instead of a resident. However, after this interview, and looking over your impressive credentials, I can say that you are not what I expected you to be.” Outside, Diana was calm, cool and collected, her face only showing the faintest hint of a smile. On the inside though, she was screaming. There was an atomic bomb going off in her brain. “Again, it’s not fully up to me, but I will be taking what I’ve learned from this interview to my superiors and peers. I will call you by the end of the week regardless of how that meeting goes.”

She stood up from her desk, which was Diana’s cue to do the same. Extending her hand, Diana thanked her again for her time, left the office, then the building, and walked to her car. She promised she’d call her fathers the second she got out to tell them how she thought it went.

They were doing paperwork, so they put her on speakerphone and allowed the rest of the team to peak in. “How did it go with Dr. Abdullah?” Luke asked, crossing his fingers.

“She said she’s going to take my interview and my credentials to her peers and superiors. That she’d be sticking her neck out for me, because they don’t take interns, only residents and fellows, but she was impressed.”

“As she should be!” Spencer said excitedly, pumping his fists in the air and practically punching Emily in the nose. “When will you hear from her?”

“By the end of the week regardless,” Diana said. Not realizing she was on speakerphone, she screeched at the top of her lungs as she pulled out of the parking lot. 

Emily and Garcia were practically snorting. “Well, I can’t hear now.”

“Sorry, Auntie Garcia!”

—-

Three days later, Diana was nervous, but she knew that she had put her best foot forward. She’d be lying though if she said she wasn’t looking at her phone every five seconds. It was in the middle of dinner, which she was lucky enough to be having with both of her fathers, when she got the call.

After screeching at the dinner table, nearly blowing out her fathers’ eardrums, she composed herself and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Ms. Alvez-Reid? This is Dr. Abdullah.” God, her voice betrayed nothing. “After much deliberation, my colleagues and I have decided that we’re going to offer you an internship here. The first of its kind. Congratulations.” Diana betrayed nothing in her face, wanting to leave her fathers guessing. “I will be in contact with you shortly to put together your schedule.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said, quietly hanging up the phone. Once she pressed the disconnect button a few times, she looked up. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are making an internship for me! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Even though she wasn’t done eating, she stood up and ran around the house. When she got back, both of them were crying. “Why are you crying?” 

Spencer laughed, pulling her into him and giving her a kiss on the head. “We are so proud of you.”


	78. The Consulting Intern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer and Luke come home stuck on a case. Unexpectedly, Diana weighs in on the case.

Diana had just started her first week of classes in her fourth year. The years were falling by quickly, with no chance to slow down and take things in. After graduating from medical school, she thought about possibly taking a year off to enjoy the smaller things. It was nearly 11 PM, she was drowning in medical texts and slowly losing focus, so when her fathers came home, she decided to take a break, talk with them for a few, and then probably go back to sleep. “Don’t overwork yourself.” Her daddy always told her. “That’s never good. No matter how much you think you need to cram. It always backfires.”

Sleepily, she nodded. “I know. That’s why I decided to take a break. Did you solve your case?”

They both reluctantly shook their heads. “We’re stuck, so Emily told everyone to go home for the night.”

“What’s the case?” Diana asked. She hadn’t asked them about their cases in the longest time. Although she thought their jobs were admirable and considered them her heroes, she never really wanted to dive into the world they lived in. 

Spencer grabbed a glass of milk from the refrigerator and passed the orange juice to Luke. “We only have one victim,” Luke said. “But he was left in a warehouse that was made up to almost look like a surgical environment. He was operated on while he was alive. The shock killed him. His kidney was missing.”

Spencer shook his head. “I can’t help but feel like we’ve seen this before, but I can’t place it,” he said, his voice tight with frustration. 

Diana asked them to look at the files. “You have seen this before, I think,” she said after about an hour of staring at the pictures. “Last year, that homeless man that was found a town over. It was in the paper, but it was never given to you, probably because he was homeless and the department sucked.”

Spencer’s eyes went wide, remembering the story of the old man. He had been a doctor in the military and had come home with severe PTSD. Unable to hold down a job, he ended up losing everything he had and ended up on the streets, only to end up found in a warehouse with his kidney missing. “The guy was left with a pair of forceps keeping the wound open,” Diana said. “So was this guy. The forceps are normally used for more delicate procedures, which makes me think there is a connection to these in particular, because he could use more accurate forceps for this type of surgery. Those are commonly used in pediatric surgeries. I’ll be using them soon.”

Luke took the file from his daughter, once again scanning the contents for clues. “So this guy kills one person a year, leaves the forceps attached to the body, takes a kidney, and doesn’t return until the next year?” he questioned, his voice raising in pitch from confusion. 

“Maybe there is a connection…” Spencer said softly, taking another sip of milk. “But it’s highly unlikely that someone would remain dormant for a year, killing only one person.”

Suddenly, Diana’s mouth dropped open. “Daddy, the homeless guy, when did he die?”

“2:38 AM,” he said quickly.

She shook her head. “What was the date?”

“Yesterday, September 27th,” he replied. Immediately, he looked at Luke. “And the homeless man died on the same day last year.”

“It’s the day that’s important to him,” Luke said, a small smile forming on his face as he looked at Diana. “My little genius.”

Diana silently pumped her fists in the air. She didn’t have class in the morning, thank god, just the start of the internship in the afternoon. “We’ve gotta go back,” Luke said, texting Emily with their new developments. 

“I don’t have class in the morning,” Diana said. “Let me come with you.”

“You sure?” Spencer asked. 

She nodded. “I wanna see if I’m right.”

“You are your daddy’s daughter,” Luke laughed.

By the time they got there, it was nearly 1:30 in the morning. “Hey sweetie,” Emily said to Diana, her eyes heavy with sleep as she looked toward the rest of the team. “So it’s the day that’s important to him?”

“Yes,” Spencer replied. “He killed a homeless man last year. That was probably his practice run. And this year he perfected the method.”

“The victim was a doctor, right?” Diana asked. When they nodded, she immediately formed a theory. “Well, I don’t know whether it would be him or if he was a representation for another doctor, but my guess would be that your killer lost a child during some kind of kidney-related surgery on September 27th. That’s why the pediatric forceps even though more appropriate ones are more readily available to be used for adults surgeries.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up. Garcia sleepily ran to her niece, giving her a giant sloppy kiss before running toward her office. “You two,” she said to Luke and Spencer, “Raised a genius baby!”

“Truth,” Luke said, giving her a kiss. She was practically falling asleep where she stood. “There are going to be another couple agents here. Go to sleep. We have work to do.”

“Okay,” she yawned, poking them both as she headed toward the small couch in the round table room. “Wake me up if you need my help.”

“Ha ha ha,” Spencer snarked. 

—

Nearly six hours later, Diana woke up to see her fathers, aunts and uncles just returning to the office. “What happened?”

“You were right,” her Aunt JJ said. “David Sanchez Jr. lost his son, David III, during what should have been a routine kidney transplant surgery because the doctor was drunk while he was operating and the boy died on September 27, 2030. After years of grieving, he snapped and started killing doctors, but only on that day, and only after practicing on the homeless man. Before Emily shot him, he said he’d kill one doctor a year until the year he died. He was…a mess.”

“I can imagine,” Diana said. It was always tough when you felt bad for the unsubs. But just because they had a tragic past didn’t excuse what they did. “But I’m glad I could help.”

Spencer walked up to her, tired as all hell, but just as proud. He kissed her on the cheek and pulled away. “You could do absolutely anything you put your mind to,” he said, pulling her back into his embrace. 

“When I’m a world-famous doctor, I will absolutely consult for you,” she laughed.

Luke pulled her away from Spencer and gave her a hug of his own. “You’d honor us with your presence?”

“Only for you,” she smiled.


	79. Her Spot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the age of 16, Roxy, the family's German Shepard, passes away.

“Hey, Rox,” Diana said as she walked in the door. After the first week of her internship, she was already stressed out and insanely tired. Her fathers were already asleep, having gotten home from a case a couple hours earlier. She shouldn’t have even been out at this time of night, but there had been an emergency down at the hospital, and they needed every available body, so she’d run out.

But now she was home and more than ready to go to sleep. She patted her leg, calling Roxy to her side. As she walked in her room and got changed, Roxy used to ramp to walk up to Diana’s bed. They’d bought her the ramp nearly two years ago so she could get onto the bed without hurting herself. For years, Roxy waited for Diana to come home and then hope into bed with her.

Diana practically flopped onto the mattress, causing Roxy’s head to shoot up. She licked her owner’s face and curled up beside her. Within minutes, Diana fell asleep, her arms wrapped snugly around her furry sister.

—-

The next morning, Diana woke up and immediately ran to class. Thankfully, she only had two classes today, but they were first thing in the morning and the last class of the night. When she returned home, she saw her fathers’ strained faces. “What’s wrong?” But she realized as soon as she rounded the corner - Roxy was dragging her back legs across the floor. She’d been getting older; the signs were there, but even in her eyes, the three of them knew that she knew it. 

Roxy wasn’t even sad. She just pulled up to Diana, who was now sitting at the table, and rested her head against her knee. “Hey, furry sis,” she said, her voice breaking slightly at the realization that her sister wasn’t going to last much longer if at all. Crouching down on the floor, she gently massage Roxy’s legs, trying to feel out the level of pain she was in - only the lightest of touches was comfortable enough for her. The realization washed over her and the tears spilled from her eyes. She choked out a half-laugh, half-sob when Roxy leaned in to lick her tears away. “We have to let her go, don’t we?” she asked softly, her fathers still standing behind her.

They came to sit at either side. Roxy might have known what was happening, but she was definitely lapping up the attention. It had been a while since the three of them had been able to be with her at once. “Yea, I think we do,” Luke replied, clutching Roxy’s face in his hands. Although Spencer loved her too, the German Shepard had always been Luke and Diana’s baby. He could see in his husband’s eyes that this was going to hit him hard. 

“I’ll make the call,” Spencer said, grabbing his cell phone to call the vet. “Hello? Yes. This is in regards to Roxy. Is there any chance we could do this at home? I think we’d all feel more comfortable knowing we didn’t have to drag her out of the house. 5 o’clock? Thank you. Much appreciated.” When he was done, he came to sit at the dog’s side again, the three of them saying nothing for nearly an hour.

After a while, Diana stood up and grabbed a Disney movie. As a kid, she used to watch them with Roxy all the time, and while she couldn’t be sure whether or not she’d recognize the movie, the thought of doing it made her happy, which would hopefully, in turn, put Roxy more at ease. She texted Michael and told him what was happening and he’d texted back quickly saying that whenever she needed him he’d be available on Skype. While she set up the couch, she overheard her fathers talking. When her Grandma Diana had died, her Dad had been the one conjuring strength where there was none, but now the roles had been reversed. Her Dad was sobbing as her Daddy wrapped his arms around his neck. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“I knew it was coming,” Luke replied.

Spencer squeezed harder, smoothing his husband’s hair back. He’d said the same thing when his mother died, and he repeated what Luke had said to him. “It doesn’t make it any easier. Let’s cry later. Spend the day with her now so she doesn’t sense what’s happening.”

Luke immediately wiped the tears from his eyes and grabbed a blanket, sitting next to Roxy on the couch. “Hey, baby.” 

Eventually, Spencer grabbed his own blanket and sat down next to Roxy. For the next few hours, they watched Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Moana. The knock at the door took the breath out of their collective lungs. They could cry later. Right now, they needed to stay calm for Roxy. They didn’t want her to be sad. “Hello,” the vet said, extending his arm and placing a reassuring hand on Luke’s shoulder. 

They all sat down, with Roxy sitting in Diana’s lap as the vet checked her out. “She is in pain,” he said softly, “but this isn’t going to hurt at all. She’s just going to fall asleep.” The heat hurt Diana’s eyes as she hugged her sister tighter. Spencer and Luke sat at her side as well, petting her softly as the vet allowed them a few minutes along before doing what he needed to do. 

Almost immediately, Diana felt Roxy relax, her head cradling into her chest as her breathing slowed. Within three minutes, she was gone. After making the declaration, the vet once again gave them privacy. The second he left, Luke and Diana broke out into sobs, Spencer’s arms gathering around them. “She’s not in pain anymore. She had 16 great years.”

It was nearly a half hour before any of them could move, and Diana nearly had a panic attack handing her over to the vet. They had decided a long time ago that whenever the time came, they wanted to have her cremated. They’d buy her a special urn and her ashes would be buried near her favorite spot in the backyard - that way, whenever they missed her, all they’d have to do is sit in her spot and know she was there.


	80. Long Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Michael struggle to maintain a long-distance relationship.

All the time apart was killing them both slowly. Michael was going to graduate after the next semester, he’d be 21 in a matter of months, and Diana, who’d just turned 19, had a year and a half to go before she graduated and hopefully attended medical school. Between Michael applying for the Academy early, Diana’s internship and classes, Henry’s upcoming wedding, which Michael was an enormous part of, and Diana’s recent loss of Roxy, the two were both ready to explode. 

Immediately after Roxy’s death, Diana, Luke and Spencer went a little numb. They had all been so used to Roxy being at home when they got there, that it was difficult to get used to not having her there. After that short period of time, school and the internship took up so much of her time that she didn’t have a ton of time to be sad. The internship was slowing down for the semester however, so besides studying for a couple of finals, she had more time to think, and she really missed Roxy. And the time apart from Michael was only amplifying her sadness. 

I miss you.

She texted Michael before grabbing her coat, boots and textbooks to go outside and sit near Roxy for a while.

I miss you, too, Di. But we’re gonna have a month together soon. No classes. No nothing. Just another few weeks to go. <3

Thank god. She needed a break badly. After about a half hour in the cold, she gathered her things and headed back inside, saying goodbye to Roxy before she left. 

Can you Skype later?

She really missed him. Long-distance relationships were difficult. Worth it if you really loved the person, but extremely hard to maintain. At least it was kind of like training for what it would be like when Michael joined the Bureau. If he was working with the BAU, he’d be away a lot, not quite as much as school, but still, he’d be away. When he texted back and said he could Skype, Diana felt her spirits lift. 

The hours flew by, all facts and statistics she needed to memorize bouncing around in her head when Michael called in. “Hey baby,” he said. He looked as tired as she felt. “How’re you doing?”

For a while, they both just complained about school, wishing they could just do what they wanted to do for a living without any training. It was all exhausting. “I miss you,” he said.

“I miss you more,” she sighed. They spoke during the week, and neither of them wanted to be overbearing and needy, but they both felt the need to do a little extra something to keep involved in each other’s lives with so many miles apart. “How about we just send each other random videos during the day? Like I could be headed into my internship and I’ll just video message you, you can watch it whenever you can and then get back to me. Just seeing your face every so often during the day would go a long way to not missing you so much.”

“That sounds doable,” he said. “I’ll send you a video of me while I’m doing laundry, because it’s probably the most exciting thing about my life right now.” Diana laughed, saying the internship was by far the most stressful yet exciting part of her life. That, and she was trying to nail down another tattoo design for Roxy. “You think we can try some dirty texts every now and then?” He smiled wide, his cheesy grin causing her to laugh uncontrollably. 

“I probably suck at it, but I’d be willing to try!” She was pretty sure he was ready to hang up the phone now. “What else can we do?”

“Well, when we were figuring things out, I read Harry Potter to you. Maybe we can read to each other on Skype once a week?” He suggested. That put a smile on her face. Being read to was probably one of her favorite things in the world. 

“That I’d love,” she smiled softly. “It’s just hard being so far away. You’re surrounded by pretty and intelligent ladies all the time. It’s hard not to think you’ll go off with one of them.”

“I don’t want them,” he said, leaning closer to the monitor. “I want you. You’re the prettiest and most intelligent of them all.”

“Oh, Michael LaMontagne, you are a flatterer.” Again, he flashed his cheesy grin. It’s true, he was surrounded by women all the time, but they weren’t Diana. Michael was unequivocally in love with her. They were going on a year together and he could imagine a million more. “Can we start the weekly readings tonight?”

Without a word, Michael stood up to grab a book, eventually settling on Lord of the Rings, which they both wanted to re-read. “I may fall asleep,” she admitted. “My brain is so full of crap right now.”

As he started to read, Diana went to sit on her bed with her blanket wrapped around her. It was only after about a half hour of him reading to her that she found herself getting tired. Her eyes were closed and Michael’s reading had slowed down slightly, and then stopped completely. “Goodnight, Di.”

“Night, Michael,” she said, reaching over to the computer without opening her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’ll send you a riveting laundry video tomorrow.”

“Yessss.” Before Michael even disconnected the video, he could hear the soft sound of Diana snoring.

“Love you,” he said once more.


	81. Family Get-Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Michael's families spend Christmas together.

Spencer and Luke couldn’t help themselves, watching Diana and Michael in their kitchen. It was them, but 20 years earlier. Diana was Luke, taking charge in the kitchen and knowing exactly what she was doing, and Michael was Spencer, being pointed in the right direction and only being given the easiest of recipes for fear he’d fuck it up. “Michael, you do the salad, I’ve got this.” She placed all of the necessary ingredients in front of him, making it very easy for him to put together.

“Di, I’m sure I can handle something else,” he said exasperatedly, flipping off his Uncle as Spencer laughed uncontrollably. “What are you laughing at?” he chuckled.

Spencer couldn’t stop snorting, so Luke had to answer for him. “He’s laughing because this is exactly what we do in the kitchen. Diana is me and you are him. It’s uncanny.”

“Yea, Daddy was always hopeless in the kitchen,” Diana laughed. Spencer gave a nod. It was one of the few things he could admit to not being good at. “And Michael, do you remember the last time I asked you to help me with mashed potatoes?”

Michael’s face fell. “Yea…”

“What happened?”

“It turned into one giant lump of potato because I didn’t add enough water or milk, or whatever the fuck you’re supposed to use!” he yelled. When Spencer burst into another laughing fit, Michael grabbed the nearest soft object, which happened to be a pillow and threw it at Spencer’s head. 

Over the next hour, Michael fixed the salad, Diana made the mashed potatoes for fear of having one giant lump again, Michael did the vegetables and Diana prepared prime rib. Then they had little extras here and there, but they were all fairly simple to put together, so once everything was done, she got changed into a nicer outfit and the four of them awaited the rest of Michael’s family. Considering the two youngest knew they were in it for the long haul, they asked if their families would do Christmas together, and honestly, after being friends for so long, Spencer and JJ wondered how it hadn’t happened earlier.

JJ, Will, Henry and Alaina, who were getting married in less than six weeks, would be coming. They’d exchanged gifts and then later, Henry and Alaina would go for dessert at her family’s house.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Spencer went and opened the door, giving JJ and Will giant hugs before doing the same to Henry and his fiancee. “So, Di?” Henry asked. “Did Michael manage to fuck up the mashed potatoes again?”

“You told Henry about the mashed potatoes?!” Michael cried out. “Come on!” JJ and Will brought their hands up to their faces to stifle the laughs. Neither of her boys were great cooks, but JJ knew Michael was worse than Henry in that regard.

She pointed back toward Will. “You get your cooking skills from him.”

“Henry, no is the answer to your question,” Diana laughed. “I handled the mashed potatoes and the prime rib, he did vegetables and salad. That’s all I could trust him with.” When he started to pout, she leaned into him and kissed him not he cheek. “Love you.”

After dinner, JJ nearly collapsed into Will’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back,” she said, taking her bag. Upon her return, Diana cackled.

“You brought stretchy pants?”

JJ nodded. “I need to be comfortable.” 

“I think I’m gonna copy that,” she laughed, running into her room to put on pajamas. “Alaina I have pajamas you can wear?”

“Really!?” Henry was almost knocked out of the chair with how quickly she ran inside for pajamas. Michael hadn’t even bothered getting dressed, so he was already comfortable when they were all ready to exchange presents.

Since each family had exchanged with each other that morning, it was all about exchanging with the other. Diana got Henry and Alaina a collage of pictures from their engagement put onto canvas with their wedding date on it. Alaina cried. “Hey Mikey,” Henry said, pointing to Diana. “Don’t fuck this up.”

“Thanks, Henry,” he laughed. Then Luke, Spencer and Diana had chipped in for this amazing leather jacket that JJ would love, and for Will, they got a bottle of his favorite Southern whiskey. 

“Here you go,” Alaina said, handing over a small package that she and Henry had bought together.

As she opened it, the tissue paper falling to the sides, a rose gold bracelet emerged. It looked almost like a chain with a plate where she could eventually engrave whatever she wanted. “Oh my god, this is beautiful.” She gave both of them a hug and then went back to sit in Michael’s lap as she opened the gift from his parents. It was on the bigger side and flat, and when she looked at Michael, he didn’t even know what it was. 

“It’s actually for all three of you,” Will said. “We weren’t sure what you’d like because let’s face it we don’t really need anything, but we thought this would be nice.”

When Diana finally peeled the wrapping paper back, she saw a beautifully etched drawing of Roxy, sitting on her favorite pillow. It was a picture Diana had taken years ago, and someone drew it. Luke got all choked up, barely getting out a thank you. “It’s amazing,” Diana sobbed. “It’s gonna go right up there.” There was an archway that never had anything hanging in it because they could never figure out what to put there, but this would be perfect. 

After JJ gave Reid an extra little something, a crazy tie to add to his collection, Diana insisted it was movie time. “I vote Elf!” Michael said. He was quickly seconded by Alaina and Henry, who wouldn’t be able to stay for the whole thing anyway, and JJ, Will, Spencer and Luke couldn’t care less. All they wanted was for everyone to have a nice night. 

Diana put on the movie and the resumed her place in Michael’s lap, only getting up once more to say goodbye and thank you to Henry and Alaina. “Thank you so much. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”

After they left, Diana turned to see that JJ and Will had already fallen asleep on the couch, and her dads weren’t far behind in the armchair they’d been sharing. Nothing could’ve been better on a Christmas night than falling asleep to a classic Christmas movie with the people she loved. Thank god they still had weeks of vacation left, because she never wanted to move from this moment.


	82. Sign of Things to Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and family attend Henry and Alaina's wedding.

After what felt like years of getting ready, Diana finally walked out of her room dressed in the dress she’d picked out for Henry and Alaina’s wedding. It was a beautiful ombre turquoise dress with a lace overlay. She’d done her hair up and to the side to show off the strapless neckline and had applied some light makeup; she wasn’t really big on it, so even on special occasions she didn’t go crazy. “How do I look?” she asked her dads.

Spencer practically cried like it was her wedding day. “You look beautiful,” he said, his hands over his mouth. “Like a mermaid.”

“You look gorgeous.” Luke had just emerged with his own tux; her fathers looked very dapper. “I can’t believe you’re 19 already.”

“I can’t believe my nephew, my godson, who I practically watched be born, is getting married today. I feel so old.”

“You are old,” Luke replied. Spencer cut his eyes at his husband, suppressing the urge to smack him in the arm. 

In order to get rid of the cranky smile on Spencer’s face, Luke leaned in and gave him a kiss. “But you only get finer with age, my love. Like a fine wine.”

“That’s better.”

—–

Traffic getting to the venue had been more than they intended, so by the time they got there, they needed to take a seat. Michael glanced over, doing a double take when he saw Diana. “You look beautiful,” he mouthed. He was, of course, standing at Henry’s side. Alaina looked every inch the beautiful bride, and JJ was sobbing in the front row like Diana knew she would be. 

Diana wasn’t a crier herself, but when Henry got choked up, she started to tear up. Considering this was her boyfriend’s brother, she figured it would be a success if she managed to cry without getting snot and tears all over her dress. Towards the end of the ceremony, that was tested as they said their final vows. 

“I, Alaina, take you Henry, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.” Henry was an absolute mess, probably more so than Alaina, but Diana and JJ had to take the cake. Thank god, she’d brought tissues. When she looked over, Diana saw that her Daddy was also tearing up to the point of needing tissues.

As Spencer brought out tissues for himself and Diana, Henry composed himself before returning his vows. “I, Henry, take you Alaina, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.”

Finally, the minister pronounced them husband and wife. As everyone clapped, they made their way down the aisle and Diana was able to meet up with Michael. “You look beautiful,” he said again. “Maybe one of these years that’ll be us.”

“Maybe,” she winked. Before making their way to the reception, she looked back to find her fathers, who through all the marital festivities, were kissing each other with reckless abandon at the back of the ceremony space.

—–

The reception space was about 15 minutes away, so after a short drive, everyone made their way into the hall. JJ and Will sat with Diana, Michael, Spencer, Luke, and Alaina’s parents and sister. After welcoming the bride and groom and watching them in their first dance as husband and wife, the deejay asked for the couples to join them on the dance floor. “May I have this dance?” Michael asked.

Diana bowed his way and followed him out, swaying back and forth to the soft, dulcet tones of the music. On either side her dads and Michael’s parents. If anything told the future for Henry and Alaina’s marriage, it was JJ and Will. They been together forever and were more in love than when they first met. “I think if you do plan on taking advantage of all of this and marrying me,” Diana said, “I think we’re gonna be good.”

“My parents have been together forever and so have yours, so yea,” Michael said with a satisfied smile, “I think we’re good.”

Diana leaned into him, pressing a kiss to his lips as the music started to switch into something more upbeat. “It’s a sign of things to come.”


	83. Drowning in Stress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana is getting overwhelmed by the academic stress in her life.

Michael was gone to complete his last semester. Henry and Alaina were off starting their lives together. Her fathers were contemplating retirement in a few short years. And Diana was running around like a mad woman between classes and this internship. She knew what she was getting into, but damn it wasn’t harder than she ever expected. Barely a moment went by where she didn’t have something to do, whether it be class, the internship, homework, or as of late, looking at medical schools to apply to. She had to have other options than Johns Hopkins for if she didn’t get in to her top choice.

It was all so much - and she felt like she was drowning in a wave of responsibilities. 

“Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go,” she said, running out of her room and grabbing a cup of coffee to go. Thankfully, when she turned around, she saw that her dad had already made her a cup. He and her daddy were nearly ready to go to work. Now that Jack and his wife were on the team, the elder members would allow themselves to come in a little later. 

Luke grabbed her face in his hands. “Baby, breathe,” he smiled. She literally looked like she was about to explode right now. Turning her around, he grabbed some lunch he’d made for her and Spencer stood up to massage her shoulders.

“Damn, Di,” he chuckled. “You are carrying an insane amount of stress near your neck. Are you getting migraines lately?”

“A few,” she replied. “And yea I’m carrying stress, medical is stressful, so I’m gonna be stressed forever.” She wanted to be a doctor more than anything, but she knew from the beginning that the medical path was not going to be an easy one to pursue. She flailed her arms around as she gulped down a few sips of coffee and nearly burned her throat in the process.

Spencer pulled her into his arms. “Take a deep breath. Do it.” She inhaled hard and exhaled slowly through her nose. Then she did it again. “I, more than anyone else in your life, understand the kind of stress you’re under right now. But unlike me, you have someone who gets it, so I’m going to tell you this. Sure, you need to be at your internship on time. You need to be 100 percent there when you’re there. You wanna give all to your classes, but you also need to make sure you take care of yourself, because if you don’t, you won’t be able to take care of anyone else.”

Diana sighed, knowing he was right. Of course he was. Her daddy was always right. “It’s easier said than done, Daddy.”

“I know,” he responded. “And I’m not suggesting you take a day off. That’s an extreme that you wouldn’t do unless you absolutely needed, but there are small things you can do.”

Diana was desperate for something to relieve the stress. “Like what?” She needed ideas, but she had too many other things in her head to think of something to relieve her stress. She looked at the clock and started to inwardly panic. She should probably get going.

“You don’t have to be there for another hour and it takes less than 20 minutes to get there,” Spencer said. “You’re good. I can give you some ideas. The first is meditate in the morning. Wake up five minutes early and listen to this.” He pulled out his phone and showed her a very funny meditation. “At night, before you go to bed, use one of those heat wraps on your neck. Doing that before you go to sleep will suck at all the bad crap that happened during the day. Not actually, but you know what I mean. It will help you to relax at the end of a long day, like-”

“Babe, you’re rambling,” Luke laughed.

“Sorry, what’s another thing you can do. Oh yea…” Diana couldn’t help but laugh. One might think he needed to take his own advice, but her daddy was naturally high strung. “You can also put together a playlist on your phone of calming nature sounds and listen to them on the way to work. If you don’t have the time, we’ll make one for you later. Yea, fuck it, we’ll make one for you later. But that can help a lot.”

“There’s also aromatherapy candles,” Luke said. “You know that ocean-y smelling one I have? That helps a lot. Drinking tea is also known to relieve stress. Writing your feelings out can help. Getting a massage. Daddy and I will book a massage for this week or next week let us know.” He was rambling now.

“You know after more than 20 years together you’ve started to ramble like him, right?” she laughed.

Luke shrugged. “True, but I’m also right.”

“Now you really sound like me,” Spencer giggled. “Exercise can also help, but again that takes time that you don’t have a ton of, and if worse comes to worst, call up Michael and do a little dirty talking because talking about sex is also known to relieve stress.”

“Oh my god, Daddy,” Diana screamed. “Holy crap.” It was a good thing she wasn’t the type to get embarrassed by things like that. Her dads had raised her to believe that sex wasn’t an inherently embarrassing thing, but it was still funny to hear that coming out of his mouth. “Okay, all duly noted. I think I might be able to do some of those. And I have off on Saturday.”

Luke wrote a note on the calendar, reminding himself to book a massage for his daughter. “Good, I’ll text you when we’ve made the appointment. Now get going and kick some ass.”

“I will. Love you, Dad.” She put down her coffee cup and gave him a hug. She literally had no idea what she’d do without such wonderful fathers. After letting go, she turned to her daddy and did the same. “I’m definitely going to listen to that meditation on the way to work.” Before she left, Spencer gave her a kiss goodbye and she walked out the door, feeling a little bit better than she had when she woke up that morning. 

When she got in the car, her trusty Rebecca, she called Michael. Part of them staying in touch and keeping their relationship strong had included calling each other in the morning when they were both able to talk. If not, they’d leave a message. “Hey, babe,” she said. “I’m on my way into work right now. I’m stressed out beyond belief, but my dads gave me a couple of pointers on how to let it go. You’ll be pleased to know that Daddy said you and I should dirty talk because talking about sex is known to relieve stress.” She giggled, imagining the look on Michael’s face when he heard that. “So give me a call when you can, okay. I love you. Talk to you later.”

She hung up the phone and blasted some music, singing her lungs out and attempting to not have a care in the world. It wasn’t totally working, but at least it was helping some. With two amazing and loving dads, and the most supportive boyfriend ever, she knew she’d make it through. Plus, she had that dirty talking to look forward to.


	84. Shit Happens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana, Emma and Alicia attend another college party, but are unaware of the criminal activity taking place in the house.

“Thank god,” Alicia said, climbing into Diana’s car as she, Diana and Emma headed to a party at a local frat house. Diana had been invited by Sadie and Tara and she’d invited Emma and Alicia to come again. After the last party they went to together, they just made Diana promise to never leave them alone because she’d had to punch an entitled fuckboy to get him to back off. But all three were now in college and needed to blow off some stream, so a little bit of drinking, some dancing, and maybe a dip in the pool would probably allow them to let loose. 

After a fifteen minute drive, they pulled up to the frat house, which none of them believed was an actual house and not a mansion, and headed inside, immediately grabbing beers and heading to the backyard. “Hey, baby,” someone said, rubbing up against Diana. “You wanna dance?”

“Nope!” she yelled over the music, much to her friends’ amusement. “I’m taken!” She pulled at the locket around her neck, which Michael had given her for their anniversary. It had a picture of them inside and engraved on the inside was “you give me the type of feelings people write novels about.” Thankfully, the guy shrugged and left, allowing Diana to get in the middle of Emma and Alicia and starting dancing. None of them had ever been exceptionally coordinated, but with just enough alcohol in them, they managed to get a ton of people out and dancing around them. 

Alicia and Emma started making out on the dance floor, so Diana just decided to tease them by wiggling her butt back into them until she separated them. “You’re a dork!” Alicia laughed, pulling Emma back in for a quick kiss.

“I started college at 15, fuck yea I’m a dork!” she screamed back. God, this music was loud. Another beer and a half hour later, Emma asked if they could all go in the pool. 

“We’re outside and it can’t be more than 60 degrees out, but I am sweating my ass off.” Inching out of the crowd, the three headed toward the pool. 

Unlike last time, they’d all worn bathing suits underneath. “And I promise, if one of us has to go to the bathroom, we all go, because I will not leave you in pool of fuckboys again.”

“Thank you!” Alicia singsonged. She was definitely the easiest to get drunk out of the three of them. With just two beers in her system, she was already slowing down. Meanwhile, Diana felt next to nothing and she was nursing her third. 

“Do you want another before we go in?” Emma asked.

Diana shook her head, aware of the effect alcohol could have when in the water. “Not to sound like a dork,” she laughed, craning her head toward Alicia, “But alcohol expands your blood vessels and increases your body temperature and same goes for soaking in hot water. Both of them cause dehydration which can lead to heat exhaustion.”

“Which means?” Emma smiled. She knew. But she was egging Diana on, and she was happy to oblige. 

“Which means, the more I drink and stay in hot water, the more likely I am to die of heat exhaustion, so I think I’ll pass on that.”

As they laughed, they all hopped into the pool and started talking with a group of girls that seemed to be there because of societal pressures and not because they actually wanted to be there. Diana told them who to steer clear of and who they could interact with, extending her help if they ever needed anything. 

Just as the now six of them were about to get out of the pool, a group of bulletproof vest wearing officers toting guns bounded through the back gates and pushed the host of the party to the floor. Suddenly, everyone was in a hurry to leave, grabbing towels and drinks and bags and running to the nearest exit. 

“Out of the pool,” the officer said. The only ones left were Diana, Emma, Alicia, their three new friends and two guys that also seemed really out of place. 

Diana did as she was told, telling her friends and the guys at the end to the do the same. “Sir, can I ask what’s wrong? What happened?”

When he looked them over, he could tell that the group he was looking at was more than likely not involved at what had been going on at the party, but he did need to take them in. “There has been some drug activity at this party, and dealing in particular. None of you are being arrested, but we are going to need you to come in to the station.”

Emma and Alicia held onto each other, but their new friends’ and the two guys’ faces went pale. “Just keep a cool head guys. We didn’t do anything wrong.” The eight of them were escorted to cars, still soaking wet and a little tipsy. They were technically underage, but considering what they were looking into, Diana was pretty sure the officers were going to let them off without any punishment. At least, she hoped not. That would jeopardize her scholarship, which she absolutely could not afford.

“Come this way.” The officer got out of the car and escorted them all inside. It seemed like nearly ½ of the party had ended up at the local station. They were separated into small groups and questioned about the night’s activities.

Diana told the truth. Despite being underage, she and her friends had gone their to have a couple drinks, go in the pool and have a good time. “What actually happened?” she asked. 

“The host of the party, the frat,” the officer started, “They have been dealing in MDMA for a while, but because of the money that their parents have been donating, we couldn’t get them on anything without hard evidence. Well, we finally found it and come to bust them tonight to find that a large portion of your peers were on the drug. The ones that are will be arrested.”

Emma and Alicia panicked for a moment, so Diana asked for clarification. “And the ones that aren’t on it, like myself and my friends?”

“You’ll be let go,” he said with a tired smile. “I can see you’re good kids. We are going to need to call someone to pick you up because you have been drinking, but all things considered we aren’t interested in arresting a bunch of good kids over a couple of beers.”

Her shoulders relaxed and she was finally able to breathe. She knew they didn’t do anything wrong, but if she had been arrested anyway it would’ve put her academics in jeopardy, and losing her scholarship over a couple of beers seemed like some bullshit. “What about my three friends over there and the two guys over that way?” she asked. “The ones that were in the pool with us. I’m sure you can see that none of them are MDMA.”

“They’ll be let go too,” he assured her. “Do you want to call someone or should I?”

“I will.” She sat down and pulled her phone out of her pocket as she placed her hand over Emma’s and Alicia’s. “Dad?”

“Yea, baby?”

“I’m at the local station with Emma and Alicia. Don’t panic,” she said quickly. “Apparently, someone in the frat was dealing MDMA and they took a bunch of people in for questioning. The ones that didn’t run at least. Can you and Daddy pick us up?”

“Sure, baby. I’m waking him up now. We’ll be there in 10 minutes.” Again, Luke told her that he was proud of her. Despite easily being able to panic, she had kept her cool. He never even asked if she’d taken MDMA; they didn’t need to. Diana was always very upfront with them. She drank on occasion and once or twice she’d taken a hit of a joint, but that was it.

The two guys that were taken in with them headed over to Diana, Emma and Alicia. “Hi. Umm, I’m Derrick and this is Kevin. Kevin snuck out to be here, and if we call his dad or mine. Kevin’s gonna get the shit kicked out of him.” With pleading eyes, Kevin turned toward Diana. “I heard you talking to your Dad? Do you think he’d be willing to drive us home so I could sneak back in? My father has a temper and-”

“You mean your father is abusive?” she asked, sighing as Kevin nodded his head. “I’m sure they will.”

Ten minutes later Luke and Spencer walked into the station, said a few words to officers, flashed their badges and headed toward their daughter. “Hey, baby.” Both of them hugged her and the girls, before Diana introduced them to the guys.

“This is Derrick and Kevin. Do you mine driving them home? Kevin’s dad has a temper.” She emphasized the last word and glanced at her dads in such a way that they immediately knew what she meant. Spencer went to the officer and signed off and taking the five of them home, but not before Diana made sure the other three girls had a way home.

“Thanks, Daddy. Thanks, Dad,” she said. She hadn’t realized how much of a front she’d been putting on. 

“No problem, baby. Sometimes shit just happens.”


	85. Waiting is Hard!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana applies to and hears from Medical Schools about acceptance.

“Applying to med schools is even worse than college!” Diana cried, sitting at the table amongst the enormous, seemingly never-ending pile of paperwork she needed to get straightened out so she could send in her applications. Her dream school was Johns Hopkins, but it was the second best ranked medical school in the country, bested only by Harvard, so she had three backups as well, Cornell and the University of Pittsburgh, which were further from home, and the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Spencer came up behind her, handing her another cup of coffee. “I know I’m your father, but you have the grades and background for Johns Hopkins. I’m sure you’ll get it.”

“But what if I don’t!” Diana’s anxiety meant the worst possible scenario was the one that cropped up first. “I don’t want to go away, but I also don’t want to go to a bad school. Michael is going to be here and I love him, and I love you and dad, and my friends. I want to be here.”

“I know you do,” Luke said, coming out of nowhere and giving her a hug from behind. “And you will be. Just breathe.” 

Just breathe. JUST BREATHE! Breathing was hard, especially when you had your entire life riding on one decision. She knew she had the merits, but so did a lot of other people, and she was by no means the only qualified individual applying to any of these schools. She had essays written, recommendations gathered from professors and employers alike, MCAT scores, and applications. “But breathing is hard. I don’t wanna wait for answers. I want them now.”

Spencer couldn’t help but laugh at how alike they were despite the lack of a genetic connection. In many ways, she was more like him than Luke. “I know. And I get it, but you’re going to be fine.”

They heard a knock at the door and Spencer went to go grab it, letting Michael in. He was in the process of taking a million different tests for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies in hopes that he would be able to join the Academy. Ever since he was a little kid, he’d wanted to be a profiler like his mother, and that dream hadn’t changed throughout college. “Hey, babe,” he said.

“Hi, Michael.” Diana didn’t even look up from the table. If she did, she was afraid she’d lose her focus. All she wanted to do was get all of this information out so that she didn’t have to think about it anymore. Well, that was a lie. As soon as they were out in the mail, she would be freaking out about being accepted. “Just give me a few.”

With a laugh, he grabbed a cup of coffee and took a seat on the couch, talking with his Uncles about all the tests he’d been taking. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t get accepted to the Academy. I have to get all these tests back before I can even apply. It’ll be months of this.”

“I know,” Luke replied. “But you’ve got your mother’s brain, I’m sure you’ll be fine. Both of you sure know how to panic.”

“Shhhh!” Diana laughed, closing the envelopes with shaking hands. “I have every right to panic. This is big.”

“You’re a fucking genius, Di,” Michael laughed. “You’re going to get in.”

“I hope so,” she said. “But I always doubt myself.”

After making sure everything was filled out, she walked outside and put everything in mail, staring at it for a few minutes before going back inside and attempting to let things go. Now all she and Michael had to do was wait, but WAITING WAS HARD!

—–

Two months of waiting seemed like a fucking year. It was nearly two months before she started getting answers from anyone. The University of Maryland at Baltimore was the first to get back to her. It was the least competitive of the four and she got in, so if Johns Hopkins didn’t accept her, she could at least stay close to home, but Hopkins was her dream med school. Of course that meant that it would be the last one to get back to her. 

Three days later, she got word from the University of Pittsburgh, which said no, much to Spencer and Luke’s anger. “They suck!” Luke said.

“I didn’t want to go there anyway,” she laughed nervously. “But Johns Hopkins is better ranked so that makes me anxious now.”

Michael knocked on the door hurriedly and opened the door without waiting for an answer. “I’m in!” He’d applied to the Bureau a month earlier and had been accepted into the Academy; he still had to apply to the BAU, but he was one step closer.

For a moment, Diana forgot her own troubles and hopped into Michael’s arms. “Congratulations! I knew you could do it!” She pulled back as the tears stung at her eyes. Months of freaking out about her own acceptance had pushed Michael’s to the background somewhat. “I always knew you could.” She pressed her lips to his and gave him a kiss. 

“How’re you doing? Any other notifications besides the University of Maryland?”

“Pittsburgh. And they said no.”

“Eh, fuck’em,” he laughed. “In a few days, you’ll probably get word from Cornell and Johns Hopkins.” He hugged her tighter, trying to allay her nervousness. “They’d be dumb not to accept you.”

—–

A week later, Michael completed his first day at the Academy. Diana got the last two applications in the mail, but she hadn’t opened them yet. “I got the applications but I haven’t opened them yet,” she spoke into phone. Her fathers were at work on break, and Michael was in between runs on the Academy physical course so they called him in so he could be on the phone. JJ was there too.

“You’re gonna be fine, babe,” Michael laughed. “Just open them.”

Diana’s shaking and sweaty hands peeled back the paper of the Cornell envelope. “Alright, I’m opening the one from Cornell.” Muttering under her breath, she got to the line she wanted. “I’m in! Full ride!”

“Again, I knew that,” Michael replied. “What about the one you really want?”

“I can’t do it,” she said. “I wanna throw up.”

“You can do this!” JJ and Spencer said at the same time. “Open it!”

With two swift movements, she ripped open the envelope and pulled out the papers. “Scanning, scanning, scanning…Congratulations! Ahhhhhhh!” She continued to look over the letter. “Half scholarship! Fuck yessssssssss!” 

“You realize you’re on speaker phone and the rest of the team just heard you right?” Luke said. 

“Don’t care!”

“Congrats, Diana!” Jack and his wife said from the background.

“Oh my god, I still wanna throw up, but now it’s from excitement. I think I could cry.”

“Dinner tonight?” Spencer asked. “Everyone?”

“Yes please!”

“We all have to get back. Talk to you later.”

“Love you, everyone!”

“Love you, too!”

Once everyone hung up, she disconnected the line and ran around the apartment like a kid on Christmas morning. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”


	86. A Job Well Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana graduates college and Michael gets some news of his own.

Spencer sat at the table, his lips pursued and hands in front of him as his and Luke’s baby girl walked out in her graduation gown. “I did it!” she exclaimed, happily. After five long years, she’d completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s dual degree. In a few short months, she would be off to medical school, and neither father could understand how the time had gone so fast. “Congratulations, baby,” Luke said, turning her around and embracing her in the warmest of hugs. “You’ve earned this and we could not be more proud.”

She was about to cry. Thankfully, she’d worn waterproof mascara today. “thank you, Dad. I can’t believe I did it.”

“I can,” Spencer said, standing up and pulling her into his arms. “We always knew you could do it.” He pulled back, placing both his hands around the back of her neck and kissing her forehead. “And you make us proud every day. Regardless of tests and school.”

“Don’t make me cry, Daddy,” she said, choking out a small sob and covering her mouth. “I couldn’t have done it without you both.”

Suddenly, there was a small knock on the door. “It’s Michael! Open up!” A few strides and Spencer was at the door to open it. “Congratulations, Di,” he said softly. From behind his back, he pulled out a bouquet of tiger lilies, her favorite. “For the most beautiful and intelligent woman I know.”

“Hey!” JJ joked. 

“Thank you, babe.” She leaned in, placing a kiss on his lips while Spencer and Luke both fake gagged in the background. Her Aunt feigned hurt that Diana was now Michael’s favorite woman, but of course, like the good ass kisser he was, he turned around and made sure he told JJ that she would always and forever be his number one woman - tied with Diana, of course.

“That I can deal with.”

“Congratulations,” Will said. “We are so proud of you.”

“Thank you, Uncle Will.” She kissed him on the cheek and after a few minutes of celebrating Diana, they were getting ready to leave. 

Just as they were about to walk out the door, Michael got a call. It had been weeks since he’d applied for a position with the BAU. His Aunt Emily and the chief of the Bureau as a whole were the two who needed to sign off on his obtaining a position with the team, and no one, not even his mother, had been told whether or not he would be accepted. “Hello. Yes, this is Michael LaMontagne.” Diana froze in place, knowing what the call was and crossing her fingers. “Yes, Chief. Thank you very much.”

Slowly, he hung up the phone. You could hear a pin drop in the room. “I’m in!”

“Ahhhh!” Diana screamed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Congratulations!” For another few years, until Spencer, Luke, JJ, Emily and Garcia retired, Michael would get to work with them, as well as Jack and his wife. It seemed the BAU was a family tradition. 

The piled into car after car. Spencer and Luke in one. Diana and Michael in another. And JJ and Will in another. Henry and Alaina were going to meet there, along with the rest of the BAU. Diana’s cheering section was going to rather long. As Diana took a seat in Michael’s car, she leaned over and gave him another kiss. “I’m proud of you,” she said softly. “I knew when we were kids that you would do it.”

“I’m proud of you, too.” He kissed her softly until his mother honked the car horn. “I guess we have to go. Celebrate later.”

—–

Once at the stadium, the fucking stadium, that hosted the University’s graduations year after year, Diana had to separate from her family and friends, but before saying a quick hello to Emma and Alicia, who’d joined up with the rest of her family. 

In addition to Emma and Alicia, and of course, her dads, JJ, Will, Henry, Alaina, Aunts Garcia and Emily, Jack, Jack’s wife, baby Jack, Dr. Abdullah from her internship, and numerous others had come to cheer her on. 

She found it surreal, sitting in this giant stadium and eating for her name to be called. Despite the hard work and stress she’d endured, she knew she’d earned this and deserved it. Now, she was off to medical school. Her boyfriend got his dream job. They were on a good path. The tears stung at her eyes as she heard her name. “Ms. Diana Alvez-Reid!” The moment her name fell from the dean’s lips, she heard a bellowing coming from the side of the stadium. As she looked over, she saw all the people she loved clapping and cheering and acting like fools. It was all so much and she’d worked so hard that she couldn’t keep it in anymore and started to cry. 

When she reached the dean, she shook her hand and took her diploma. The dean told her how proud she was and how she expected great things from her, a notion Diana hoped to fulfill. She had the merits, and more importantly, she had the people behind her to believe in her whenever she didn’t believe in herself.


	87. Only Four More Years...Right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana starts medical school.

“What was I thinking?” Diana asked, leaving her room on the morning of her first class at Johns Hopkins.

Spencer handed her a cup of coffee, that she took like Luke did, with a tiny splash of milk and one sugar, wondering what she could possibly be talking about. Diana had a habit of spouting something random first thing in the morning. “What do you mean?” Luke asked, sleepily taking another cup of coffee from his husband.

“My brain is already full,” she said. She took a long sip of her coffee, allowing the heated liquid to warm her from the inside and wake her up a bit. “How am I supposed to fit all of med school in my head?”

“You would be astonished at the amount of memory you actually have,” Spencer said. Diana chuckled slightly as her Daddy went off on a tangent about how knowledge could be stored almost endlessly, considering the amount of data a brain could hold. It was all a matter of leaving your brain the best place to accept it all. 

Today, she had scientific foundations of medicine, and clinical foundations of medicine, plus a longitudinal clerkship, which was started in third-year at most schools, but not Hopkins. Immediately, you were thrown from the frying pan and into the fire. She would be doing some kind of clinical rotation all four years of medical school, and although she was scared, she also couldn’t wait. 

It seemed like she was so close and yet so far away, but her dream was inching ever closer. “I know, Daddy,” she said. “It’s just insanely overwhelming. Tell Michael I said good luck. Is the paperwork driving him insane yet?”

“After two days,” Luke laughed. “No, not yet, but I’m sure it will soon. And then he’ll be shocked into reality when we have a case and realize that paperwork isn’t actually all that bad. He’ll do that for another 40 years and then he’ll retire.”

Diana cringed as her life flashed before her in the blink of an eye. “Don’t wish my life away, Dad.” She picked up her things and grabbed her bag, making sure she looked like a medical student and not a college ungrad. Although she had a feeling that most medical students put up a front for about a week and then decided to roll out of bed and go to class in their pajamas; she just didn’t want to be the first to do it, so for today, she was decked out in a pencil skirt, comfortable flats and silk blouse. 

Giving them both a kiss goodbye, she headed out the door and hopped into her car. She was early, but she wanted to grab a fresh cup of coffee on her way, plus something to eat for lunch. While she ran into a convenience store, she called Michael, but he didn’t pick up. She left a message saying how nervous she was and how she wished him luck on his first week. “Maybe a date night this weekend before my work really kicks in and murders me?” she laughed before saying goodbye and hanging up. 

The School of Medicine was in the middle of the city, so the buildings didn’t look at that different than regular buildings, unlike with schools such as Harvard and Yale, which had their own distinguished look. As she walked inside and toward her first class, she felt weirdly out of place. Most medical students were at the youngest, 24 years old, and she was here at 20 like a fish out of water. One of her biggest fears was that her professors wouldn’t take her seriously because of her age. She was sure there would be a few, but she prayed not too many.

Finally, after navigating the hallways like an amateur, she found her classroom and headed inside, seeing that in fact, everyone was here in their pajamas. “Lemme guess,” the woman said from right near the door. “You’re new here?”

“How could you tell?” Diana laughed, taking a seat next to her. They introduced themselves. Her name was Charlotte Tremaine; she was 55 and had two grown children. She’d always wanted to be a doctor, but had gotten pregnant at a young age, so she never had a chance to fulfill that dream. Now it was apparently the time. “I’m Diana Alvez-Reid. I’m 20 and I also feel out of place.” They were the youngest and oldest in the classroom. “I was trying to make a good impression,” she said as she gestured to her outfit. 

“Don’t bother,” Charlotte said. “Just do well in class. Be comfortable in class and just change for the clerkship.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The professor walked in and introduced himself. Dr. Peter Appel was a nobel laureate in his field and taught on a part-time basis. He went through the list of students, equating each name with a face. “Diana Alvez-Reid?”

Diana gave a slight wave. “You’re only 20?” he questioned.

“Yes, professor,” she replied with a smile. “I can see the doubt in your eyes, but I can assure you I’m ready.”

His look of doubt softened and his smile grew wide. “I’ve heard all about you from the Dean.” The dean knew about her? A nobel laureate had heard her name before? She was freaking out inside. “Now let’s get started.”

The class flew by, a whole load of new information being shot into her brain before heading to her next class. Charlotte’s schedule was very similar to Diana’s so they’d be taking a lot of classes together. “I can’t believe you’re only 20,” she laughed. “I have two boys and a girl and the youngest is two years older than you. You have any siblings?”

“Nope,” she said. “A lot of people feel bad for me. They think I grew up lonely, but my dads are the most amazing parents in the whole world, so I never wanted for much. Even though I was on an accelerated path, they always made sure I had friends and stayed in touch with people my own age. My best friend, Emma, is becoming a tattoo artist and my boyfriend just got a job with the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI.”

“That’s amazing,” she replied as they rounded the corner to head toward the opposite building. “You two must make quite the couple.”

Diana smiled happily as she wondered how Michael was doing at work and if they had a case yet. She took of her locket for a moment to show Charlotte the picture of the two of them. “Oh, you’re both beautiful,” she cooed. She reminded Diana a lot of her Aunt JJ and her grandmother. “Well, I’m a mother to the core, so if you ever need anything on campus and can’t get through to your dads, you let me know, and I’m here for you sweetheart.”

“Thanks.” She took a deep breath, entering the next classroom and taking a couple of headache pills from her bag. “You think you’re ready for more information?”

“I’m not sure,” she laughed. “I have mom brain, but I’m definitely going to try. You?”

“Once this headache is gone, I should be good to go. Only four more years, right?”

“Of school,” Charlotte laughed. “Then internships and residencies. Honestly, by the time all is said and done and I’m a full-fledged doctor, I’ll probably only be able to practice for a couple of years, but I just want to prove to myself that I can be something other than a mother, not that it isn’t one of the best things I’ve ever done, and that you can achieve your dreams at any age.”

“No matter how long you practice, I’m sure your kids will be eternally proud. And more more importantly, you’ll be proud of yourself.” As the next professor came in, Diana let her mind drift for a moment. If she could be as confident and cool as Charlotte was when she was her age, she’d count herself lucky.


	88. Moving Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Michael move in together.

The semester of medical school had flown by in the blink of an eye. Neither she nor Michael had had much time together during her classes and clerkships, and his new job with the Bureau. The passed each other like ships in the night, stealing kisses and glances before going their separate ways again. Michael had seen more of his mother, and Diana had seen more of her dads and even her birth mother, Kailanni, as well as her half brothers, than she’d seen of Michael. Kailanni couldn’t get over the fact that she was already in medical school. It seemed like yesterday that she’d agreed to carry Spencer and Luke’s little girl.

But finally, Diana had a small break in between semesters, and Michael had accrued some vacation time, so they’d have a few days together before starting it all up again. They were spending time at his apartment, which he’d gotten shortly after graduating from college. It was right in between Diana’s house, the house he grew up in, and Henry and Alaina’s house, so it was the perfect fit for him. 

Diana wrapped her arms around his waist. She could feel his hesitancy, but wasn’t sure why. “What’s wrong, babe?”

“Ummm…nothing,” he smiled. “Actually…I’ll just ask. Would you move in with me?”

Her eyes lit up as he brought her hands up to his face and kissed the knuckles on each of them. “I know that we don’t get to see each other that often right now anyway, but if we lived together, we’d definitely have a few more moments than we would have otherwise.”

With a smile, she nodded. “Yes I’ll move in with you.”

“Good,” he said, turning around and walking with her toward the closet. In a symbolic gesture, he’d moved his clothes to the side of the closet so that half was hers. Then he pulled out two decorative pillows, that said “I belong with you” and “you belong with me.” It was too cute. That’s when she started to cry. “You okay?”

It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to move in with Michael. She did - more than anything, but she’d spent the last 20 years living with her dads, who she loved more than anything in the world. “It’s just…I just realized I won’t be living with my dads anymore.” Michael knew how close she was with them. He’d expected that realization to hit her rather quickly. Instead of saying anything, he just let her cry for a few minutes. “I realized I wouldn’t be living with them forever, but it’s just such a change, and I know they’ll be 10 minutes away, but I feel like I’ll miss them.”

“You will,” Michael said, giving her a comforting kiss on the head. “But they’ll be so close by.”

Later that day, they decided to separate for a while so she could tell her dads in private of her plans to move in with Michael. She was a little nervous, but she hoped they’d be happy for her. Then she and Michael would get together for dinner later. “Hey baby,” Luke said, giving her a kiss as she walked in the door. “How are you doing? Something’s wrong.” He placed the back of his hand on her forehead, checking for a temperature, but that wasn’t it. “Something’s wrong. What’s wrong?”

“What’s happening?” Spencer asked as he came out of the bathroom and went to sit on the dining room table. “Are you sick?”

“No,” Diana said with a strained smile. “Ummm…Michael asked me to move in with him.” She trailed off, not knowing where to go or what to say. 

Spencer eyes widened and then a smile spread across his face. “That’s great. You wanna move in with him, right?”

“Because you obviously don’t have to if you’re not ready,” Luke added.

Diana started to tear up and shook her head. “It’s not that. It’s just…I won’t be here anymore. I’ll miss you.” And then she started sobbing. How could she be so happy and so sad simultaneously? It felt really weird and she wasn’t a fan. Immediately, Luke wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. 

“We’ll miss you too,” he said, his voice cracking a bit in a way that betrayed the words he spoke. “But we’ll always be here. No matter what. And in a couple of years, we’re retiring, so we’ll be around all the time.”

Luke removed her from his embrace and passed her over toward his husband. “You grew up so fast,” Spencer said. “But Michael is all we could ever hope for for you and I can tell you want to move in with him.”

She did. She really did. “I’m just not good with change,” she laughed through tears.

“Nooooooo, you? Really?” Spencer laughed. “My daughter is great with change!”

“Shut up,” she said into his shoulder. 

—-

Over the next few days, Spencer, Luke and Michael helped Diana move her things from one place to another. After her cry fest Diana felt better, but Luke and Spencer were contending with bittersweetness of their own. They’d raised her well, and she was only moving 10 minutes away, but they’d woken up to her beautiful face for the past 20 years, and not having that at home was going to take some getting used to. 

“Do you have much more?” Spencer teased. It was amazing how many boxes they’d already brought into Michael’s place. “How did all of this come from one room?”

Diana wiped the sweat off her brow and plopped down onto the couch. “I have no idea,” she exclaimed. “But thanks for helping me.”

For a few moments, the four of them stood in the apartment in silence, looking around at the boxes and taking in their current situation. “Okay, Michael,” Spencer laughed, looking at one of the other children he’d watched grow up. “I know I’ve said this before, but if you do anything to hurt my daughter, I will have to kill you.”

Michael snickered. “I would never imagine it,” he replied. “I kind of love her a lot.” Diana came to nestle in his arms. “I’ll die before I let anything happen to her.”

“Good to know,” Luke said, smacking him on the back. “Now, we’ll leave you two to unpack for a little bit.”

As her dads walked out of the house, she sniffled a bit, but then Michael kissed her tears away. They probably should’ve unpacked, but instead the used the next few hours to christen the apartment. It was nearly dinnertime and they were curled up naked on the couch when her dads called. “Hey honey,” Spencer said, with a hint of knowing in his voice. “Dad and I wanted to know if you and Michael wanted to go to dinner. Our treat…unless you’re too busy.”

“No, we’re good,” she laughed. There was no way she’d disguised the fact that she and Michael had been having sex all day. “Where and when?”

“15 minutes. Italian down the street?”

“Sounds good. See you in a few.”

“Love you, Di.”

“Love you, too, Daddy.”

As she up the phone and the two of them went to get ready, the smile returned to her face. It was a change, sure, but she was ready for it. Her dads were great about it. And her boyfriend was amazingly supportive. Even if she couldn’t keep her mind of things, they still had a couple rooms to check off the checklist when they got home from dinner.


	89. All She Could Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana goes to visit Michael at work and sees a familiar face she didn't expect.

Going from her own insane clerkship to the Bureau to see Michael and her dads. Probably not the most relaxing option for one’s after work activities, but she and Michael hadn’t been able to see each other much lately, so this was a good way to see him.

As she walked into the Bureau, she flashed her visitor’s badge. When asked who she was there to see, she just started listing people off on her fingers, until the person at the desk laughed and let her through. The second she stepped out of the elevator doors, like she had so many times before, she headed toward the round table room, where a bunch of new recruits were being trained. Once her dads, Emily, JJ and Garcia all retired, which they planned on doing one after the other because they couldn’t really imagine working without each other, they’d need new people to step into their shoes - only Jack, his wife, and Michael would be left. 

Diana walked into the room and met eyes with Michael, who looked a little exasperated. “Hey baby,” she said, pulling him in for a kiss. “What’s happening? You just get back?”

“Yea,” he nodded. “We caught the guy, but we still have some questioning to do.” For days they had been piecing together a bunch of cold cases in the state, as well as the neighboring states. According to Michael, the unsub had been raping, beating and then strangling women across state lines for something like 20 years. His signature was placing a blonde wig on before he beat and strangle them to death. Even with the amount of cases she’d heard from her fathers, it was unlike anything she’d ever heard before. 

She turned around, grabbing Michael’s hand and walking toward the interrogation room. Jack told all the recruits to follow suit. When she walked up to the glance, she caught his eye. “Kevin?” she asked, seeing him staring at his father in horror. Months back, they’d met at a party and her dads had driven him home; doing anything else, according to Kevin, would have resulted in a beating. 

“I-It’s my father,” he said clearly, looking up at Diana in a daze. “My father is the Oceanside Strangler I’ve heard about since I was little…my father’s killed like…20 women…I…” He was at the numb stage, unable to cry or do anything but process what he’d just learned. Diana gave Michael a twitch of her lips and turned to Kevin to hug him, saying nothing, and just being there for a friend. 

As Luke took the lead, going in to question Kevin’s father, the famed Oceanside Strangler, Kevin muttered something about his mother - what she wasn’t quite sure. “Hello,” Luke said, “My name is Agent Luke Alvez-Reid and I’m a profiler with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. I need to ask you a couple of questions.”

“Well, your a smart man,” he said, looking up at Diana’s father with a sneer that could send a shiver through your spine. “You probably know all the answers already.”

Luke gave him a smirk, trying to be just as overconfident and snarky - the only way to deal with someone like him really. “Most of them. But there are a few things we need clarification on.” At this point, Diana could see in her dad’s face that these questions were for educational purposes; they had enough to nail him to wall for the next 500 years. “Was this your first victim?” He pushed a file in front of him and studied his face, searching for some kind of indication that they were right about the first victim. 

“No. Second. First was the best. Looked a lot like that bitch wife of mine, which was why she was so perfect.” Kevin’s breath caught in his throat. 

“He killed all those women because they were supposed to be my mom?” he asked sadly. Michael gave him a sad, but reassuring nod. 

Whenever they did find the first victim at the location Kevin’s father was describing, they’d undoubtedly find that she wasn’t wearing a wig, because she looked like Kevin’s mother without it. He’d been wanting to kill his wife, and in order to keep up appearances, he kept a wife, and killed people like her. 

“What about this?” Luke asked, bringing up a picture of the fourth victim. “Starting with the forth you brought a blonde wig and glasses. Why glasses?”

That’s when he said something that broke Kevin’s heart. Apparently, Kevin had always assumed that it was just his mother that his father had contempt for, but it wasn’t. “My useless son needed them when he was born. I said it was too much money, but my wife insisted,” he said with a sneer. “He’d go blind without them apparently. With the wig and glasses, I could beat the shit out of both of them simultaneously.”

Kevin had disappeared from their side and barged into the interrogation room. “You bastard!” he screamed, as Michael ran in after him and held him back. “You killed all those women…for what? To get your rocks off because you’re a sick bastard who can’t keep a woman?” 

The heat rose in his father’s eyes and Luke got up, standing between the two of them. “I heard you and mom talking. You kept questioning if you were my father…because you had such a hard time getting it up. You couldn’t kill mom, so you went after them and killed them when you couldn’t perform, is that it?” Kevin spat in his father’s direction as his father lunged at him. But Luke pushed him away and Michael dragged Kevin out of the room. “I’m sorry.” He kept repeating it. “I’m so sorry.”

After Kevin stepped out of the room to go see his mother, the interrogation finished up and his father was processed. With all the information they had, the Oceanside Strangler would be going away for the rest of his life - without question. “I don’t know what protocol is,” Diana said as Michael packed up to go home for the night. “But if there isn’t anything against, do you mind if we take Kevin and his mother out or something? Dinner? I feel like they could use friends right now.”

“Yea, no problem.” Michael kissed Diana on the forehead and said he was going to go talk to her dads and finalize plans for the next day and he’d meet her downstairs. 

Kevin was waiting with his mother. The look of relief they both wore was heartbreaking. Diana headed toward them, both giving a silent wave and even a smile. “How are you?” she asked Kevin. She felt stupid for asking. How could he be? But nothing else came to mind.

“Honestly, I’m okay now. I mean, I’m sure everything he did is going to hit me at some point, but…we don’t have to deal with him anymore and that feels amazing.”

“Thank you,” his mother said. Diana could see on her face that she’d been afraid for too long. 

Diana told her not to thank her; she didn’t work for the BAU after all, but she could thank Michael. “I was wondering if the two of you would like to come to dinner with Michael and I?” When Kevin hesitated, she clarified. “If you don’t want to that’s fine, I totally understand, but I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Actually,” his mom said, “That might be nice. I haven’t been out to dinner without him in years. Okay by you?” Kevin nodded.

“Thanks, Diana,” he said. “I’m actually going to go upstairs and thank the team again. Can you stay here with my mom?”

“Yea, no problem,” she said. They didn’t know each other well, but it was just who she was. Leaving them alone tonight, when the wound was so raw and they would undoubtedly just end up perseverating on all the bad that had happened…it didn’t seem right. She wasn’t a doctor yet, and they didn’t need medical attention anyway, and Michael and the team had already done what needed to be done, but they still needed someone. So Diana did the only thing she could in this situation, she gave of herself.


	90. Do Me The Honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael asks Diana a very important question.

\---Do you remember our first date? Even though we separated before returning to each other, I think I knew then that we’d end up together.

Diana stared down at the little piece of paper. She and Michael had been together for over two years now. She was off for the next few weeks before starting another internship, and Michael decided to take a couple days off so they could spend some time together, but apparently he’d had some things in mind that he hadn’t shared with her. As she looked down at the paper, she continued to read the note.

…end up together. I want you to go there. There will be a man there named Lucas. He’ll have another note for you.

Oh yay! A scavenger hunt. Before she got ready to leave, she answered a group text from her dads, who were wondering what she was up to today. “Michael has a scavenger hunt for me! I’m on my way to the first place now!” Granted she was 21, but she felt like a two-year-old with how excited she was for this scavenger hunt right now. They both told her to have fun and drive safe, adding that they’d see her later. Dinner had been planned for tonight a couple weeks back. 

As she pulled into the lot of the museum where she and Michael had their first date, she couldn’t help but blast showtunes, specifically Hamilton at the moment. Without a care in the world, she ran passed children and adults alike, singing at the top of her lungs as she searched around for the mysterious Lucas, but he found her. “You must be Diana,” he said, extending his hand. 

“That’s me!” She laughed. “You have something for me?”

“That I do.” Lucas pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and handed it to her. With excitedly shaky hands, she opened it and read the note to herself. 

\---So you found note number 2! Forgive me, I’m not creative. I suck at this, but I thought it would be fun. One of my best memories of the two of us was that egg hunt we had at your house as kids. Your next note will be there. I know what you’re thinking…I’m making you drive back and forth, you were just home, but I have plans and I need you occupied, so go! And you should grab some ice cream on the way and eat it for me because now I’m craving that brownie ice cream from the place down the street.  
Oh, that sounded amazing. She couldn’t help but laugh at his notes. They basically just told her where to go and what he was thinking, but they were just as sweet. Having clues and riddles wouldn’t have been very Michael. This was perfect as it was.

Her dads were out on a date. They’d realized that after nearly three decades together, both married and not, they hadn’t been on a date in quite a while, so the house was free for today. As she drove back, switching to singing Wicked instead of Hamilton, she grabbed an ice cream cone and ran into her backyard. A little tear came to her eye when she saw the note near the spot where Roxy’s ashes were buried. It had become her favorite spot to just sit and think over the past couple of years.

Reading aloud, she dripped ice cream on the note accidentally, cursing as she did so. “Fuck! Okay…”

\---You’re eating ice cream now, right? If you aren’t, we need to grab some later because I really want ice cream. Another memory that stands out in my mind, probably because of how fucking embarrassed I was, was one my caught us having sex…not like she didn’t know…but weird. She and dad are out today, but you know where the key to the house is and you know the code, so go up to my old room, which mom weirdly still hasn’t touched, and you’ll find the note in a special place. I’m sure you can figure out where. ;)

Immediately, she knew where it would be. After nearly getting caught by her dads, who were home more often than JJ and Will, she and Michael had decided to switch sexy times over to his place. In his closet, in the corner, underneath a floorboard, was a little box with all of the things Michael hadn’t wanted his mother to see - the dirty magazines, a dried flower that Diana had given him when they were little, apparently he’d kept it, anything private he kept there. That’s where the next note would be.

Diana cleaned herself up and ran out the door, tempted to grab a pint of brownie ice cream for Michael along the way, but she decided against it; who knew how long this little game was going to last. The drive to his parents’ place was quick and she’d barely parked the car before running up to the door and grabbing the hidden key.

As the alarm went off she entered the numbers and ran upstairs, peeling up the floorboard and grabbing the note he’d left. 

\---Final note! Again, my creativity is waning. Please forgive me. Technically, our first date was at the museum, but the moment I realized I’d always love you was at our official first date, the bowling alley. It was then that I knew I could watch you disgustingly eat cheese fries forevermore and I would be completely and totally happy. That’s where I’ll be…can you bring ice cream? I really want ice cream. I’ve bought us a couple games and I already picked up your shoes, so just meet me at lane 38 when you get here. <3

She couldn’t help but laugh. He was really in the mood for ice cream. After fixing the floorboards in his room again, she got up and walked out, remembering to hide the key again before heading to pick up ice cream, which she’d drop off at their apartment for later.

Then she sped to bowling alley, wishing she could abuse her dads’ power and use a siren, but alas she didn’t have one. “Hey!” she called out, the smile spreading across her face as she jumped into his arms. “That was so much fun!”

“I’m glad. Since we like bowling so much and we go all the time, I decided to get us custom ones.” He pulled a bag out from behind him and allowed her to open it. Inside were a red ball and a blue ball, but when she turned them over, they bore the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw crests (Michael was Gryffindor and she was a Ravenclaw, just like her daddy).

Diana looked up at him and jumped back, clapping excitedly. “And they have our names on them too, oh my god!” Michael gathered her close and pressed his lips to hers.

“I’m so glad you like them.”

“I love them! Are you insane!? Yes! Let’s play!”

After one game, where Michael was even worse than he normally was, he started to look like he was getting sick. “Baby, you okay?” she asked, placing her hand on his head. “We can go home if you’re not feeling well. I’ve had so much fun already.”

He swallowed hard and shook his head. “No that’s okay.” Suddenly, a bowling ball she didn’t recognize popped up by their lane as if someone had just put it there. When she went over to grab her new ball, she absentmindedly turned the new one over. Etched in the side was “Will You Marry Me?”

She spun around on her heels, expecting to see Michael head on, but he was on one knee with a box in his hand. “Oh my god,” she cried. She wasn’t a crier, but she was legitimately about to explode. “This is…you’re…”

Michael sucked in his lip and grabbed her hand. “Now, just let me get this all out before I throw up. I know we’re still young. I know you have to finish med school and I’m always away on cases, so I’m fine with waiting, but I want to wait knowing that I’m going to marry the woman I’ve been in love with since I was little. We’ve grown up together. No matter what, you’ve always been there. When I’m gone, I don’t breath the same because I don’t know when, or if I’m going to get back to you. But Diana Alvez-Reid, I want you for the rest of my life. I want us to conquer the fucking world together, save lives, have all the babies and live happily ever after. It’s gonna be hard. It’s gonna be work. But you’re the one I want to work with for rest of my life. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

Now a complete mess, Diana brought her free hand up to her face and wiped away the tears. “Yes!”

Michael popped up and grabbed her face in his hands to a round of applause to the people that had gathered around him. When she looked up, she saw both sets of parents, clapping way with tears in their eyes.

“We’re gonna be in-laws,” Spencer said, grabbing JJ and kissing the top of her head. “We used to joke about that.”

“Not anymore.”


	91. Alvez-Reid LaMontagne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Michael get married!

They were actually doing this. Normally, when people got engaged, they’d have a year to a year and half engagement while they planned the wedding, but as Diana and Michael talked about it more, they realized that was for people who planned on having an enormous party, and that totally wasn’t there style. Plus, with BAU life for Michael and Diana’s being a medical student, there was never going to be a “good time” to get married. Their lives weren’t destined for relaxation. They would without a doubt be leading hectic lives, so why wait?

After much consideration and finally settling on a date about five months down the road, they started planning. Aunt Garcia had been the first to retire from the Bureau, so she was all about wedding planning. All. About. It. “Don’t worry, my little angel, I will have everything taken care of. I am totally in my element making all these phone calls. Your big day is going to go off without a hitch, I can promise you that.”

“I trust you, Auntie,” Diana had laughed. 

Now the big day was just a few months away. It was definitely cutting it close when it came to wedding dresses, but luckily Diana could more than likely buy off the rack. Today, she, Emma, Alicia, Aunts Garcia, JJ, and Emily, and Charlotte would be accompanying her to look for wedding dresses. She wasn’t traditional in a lot of ways, but having the ladies she loved the most there for her when she picked out her wedding dress was a must.

The first one she put on was a mermaid style. Immediately, she was uncomfortable and it was vetoed by everyone, mother of the groom included. “You don’t look like you like that one,” JJ said. “I imagine you’d be comfortable in something kind of girl, kind of a little out there, not a full ballgown, but something with a pretty skirt.”

Diana nodded her head, looking down and making a motion at the dress she was wearing. Definitely not her. Dress after dress was a now, some of them were okay, some were even great, but none were perfect, and that was another traditional part of her, she wanted that perfect feel.

She pulled on what felt like the 80th dress. A feeling washed over her - she felt exquisite. She felt exactly like her, and she started to cry. “Oh my god,” Emma said from outside the dressing room. “I hear crying. Did you find the dress?”

“I think so!”

“Come out!” JJ cried. 

From the dressing room, she emerged in an A-line dress with thin white spaghetti straps on the top. The dress was white at the top with a slight flower pattern, but it was a different white and was raised slightly so it reflected against the light. As the skirt flared out, the white merged into a vibrant, but plush pink, and the floral details that were just a pattern before were now embellishments on the skirt. In a manner very unlike her, she stood before her friends and family, her fingers gently entwining as she smoothed out the material. “Do you like?”

JJ stood up, her eyes filling up as she walked up to her soon-to-be daughter-in-law who she’d known from the moment she entered the world. “You look beautiful,” she said softly. Diana choked out a sob and within seconds the rest of her friends and family were crying.

“This is absolutely perfect,” Garcia cried.

Emily pulled her in, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “You look perfectly you. You were meant to wear this.”

While everyone else was crying happily but silently to themselves, Emma freaked out and ran into her best friend’s arms. “It’s absolutely perfect. You’re absolutely perfect. I can’t believe my bestie is getting married.”

“Mine either.” Together since they were teenagers, Emma and Alicia were also engaged, but they’d be putting theirs off until Alicia graduated with her master’s degree. 

With her dress picked out and measurements taken, they could all move on to bridesmaids’ dresses. Emma was her maid of her honor, naturally, but she wanted Alicia and Charlotte there as well, in addition to her aunts and the mother of groom. They were her family. Various shades of purple had always been her favorite, so that had been the color scheme they’d picked - lilacs, whites and silvers. 

“Just so you know,” Garcia said, wiping the tears from her eyes, “I’ve been on and off the phones with the florists, the venue, and the catering company and so far everything is on track.”

Diana had no idea what she would’ve done with her Aunt planning the wedding. “What kind of dresses were you thinking for the bridesmaids?” Emily asked.

“Honestly,” Diana said, not having given it an extensive amount of thought, “I want them to be lilac and I want them to be long, but everyone should wear a cut they feel comfortable in.”

“Oh thank god, I love you,” Emma said, dreading having to like a bridesmaids’ dress she hated for the sake of her bestie. She turned around and pointed out a “family” of dresses, all the same color and length, but different in style. “So we could pick from here?”

Diana nodded and all of her ladies started diving into the gowns. Eventually, Garcia decided on a sweetheart strapless gown. Emily and JJ both opted for one shouldered options, Charlotte was the most covered up, but her sleeves were off the shoulder, and Emma and Alicia both spaghetti straps, similar to her own gown. “Everyone happy?” she asked, thankful that everyone found something they liked. It was her day, but having her bridesmaids uncomfortable wasn’t what she wanted. The color and length were all that were necessary for her. 

“Only a few more details to go,” Garcia said. “And then my little baby is getting married to one of my other babies. I can’t even believe it.”

—-

All of the details were ironed out just in time. Considering her love of books, Diana was shocked that she hadn’t thought about marrying at the Library of Congress, but Michael did, and the moment he’d suggested it, she knew it was perfect. They’d marry in the great hall and then there was a beautiful room where they’d hold the reception. 

She walked in that morning, hair and makeup already done to the hall, which was decked out in lilac and white flowers. While the room was grand, the decorations were understated. “Everything is set, sweetheart,” Garcia said, running her hand over Diana’s cheek. “You are the most beautiful bride.”

“Stop, Auntie, you’re gonna make me cry.” She was already crying but that was besides the point. 

It was only an hour later that she was dressed in her now perfectly-tailored gown and was ready to walk down the aisle. “You nervous?” Luke asked. Both he and Spencer would be walking her down the aisle. 

“No,” she said softly, staving off a new wave of tears. “Just excited.”

The second the doors opened, she looked down to where Michael stood and started to cry. Before the procession began, Spencer pulled a tissue out of his pocket and wiped her tears away. “You look beautiful, by the way,” he said, his eyes filling up with emotion. He swore it was only yesterday that he and Luke had become fathers and now here she was getting married to the man she loved.

“Daddy, don’t cry or I’m gonna lose it,” she said, giving both of them a kiss on the cheek. 

Spencer wiped his tears away and swallowed hard. “No promises.”

Walking down the aisle, Diana felt light, beautiful and oh so ready. When Michael started to cry, she did too, and then her dads lost it, drowning in their own tears as they kissed her and told her how beautiful she was and how proud they were. 

After welcoming everyone, the officiant started the ceremony, which passed relatively quickly in the two lovers’ eyes. They couldn’t stop crying, their eyes fixed sole on the other until the officiant said they could begin their vows. Another thing they’d both agreed upon fairly early on in the planning process was that they’d each memorize a passage on love from a book they loved, tweaking it for themselves, and use them as their wedding vows. However, they wouldn’t tell each other until now.

From memory, Diana started to speak a passage from Doctor Zhivago. “Oh, what a love it is, utterly free, unique and like nothing else on earth. Our thoughts are like other people’s songs. We love each, not through necessity or the “blaze of passion” often falsely associated with love. We love each other because everything around us wills it, the trees and the clouds and the sky over our heads and the earth under our feet. Perhaps our surrounding world, the strangers we meet in the streets, the wide expanses we see on our walks, the rooms in which we live and meet will take more delight in our love than we will…but I tend to doubt it.” That last little bit had been improvised, eliciting a crying laugh from Michael. The two looked to the side and saw JJ, Will, Spencer and Luke in varying degrees of sobbing - the worst probably being Spencer and JJ.

Everyone else was sobbing as well, but they couldn’t really see well through the tears. Michael’s passage was shorter, from Winnie the Pooh, which JJ and Will read to him constantly as a child. He loved the passage then, associating it with his mother, but when Diana came into his life in the way she did, the passage started to remind him of her as well. “If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together…there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart…I’ll always be with you. I love you.”

Even the officiant was in tears now, and Diana could’ve sworn she heard her Aunt Garcia sobbing behind her, though she didn’t dare look for fear of completely breaking down. “Well, I think all of us are sufficiently drained of tears now,” the officiant laughed, before leading the two in the final vows. “It is my honor to pronounce Michael and Diana as husband and wife!”

A roaring round of applause sounded throughout the hall as they made their way down and out the doors, giving them a few moments alone before walking into the reception. “My wifey!” Michael cried, pulling Diana into him by her waist. “You look so beautiful. Looking forward to every day of the rest of our lives.”

“Me too,” she sobbed. Having decided long ago that she didn’t want to lose her last name while also wanting to take on Michael’s, she’d use her maiden name as her middle from now on. 

As of now, Diana was Diana Alvez-Reid LaMontagne. “I’m a LaMontagne now,” she said, using her perfect southern drawl that she’d picked up from her father-in-law over the years. 

“Yes you are,” Michael said proudly. “Alvez-Reid LaMontagne.”


	92. Strain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash forward six months. Diana is 22 and she and Michael are constantly apart because of work and school.

Nearly six months had passed since their wedding day, and they were more in love than ever. But it was ridiculously hard for either of them to show it. Diana’s life in medical school was consistent, but hectic, and Michael’s schedule with the Bureau wasn’t a schedule at all. In six months, they’d probably spent about a month of it together. 

Since the wedding, JJ had retired, as had Luke, but Spencer and Emily still remained for another year or so. “How do you deal with it dad?” Diana asked. “When I was growing up, you were apart all the time. How did you make a marriage work?”

“It’s hard,” Luke replied. Being married to a member of the BAU wasn’t easy. “But nothing really is. I love your daddy, more than anything else in this world except you. You’re tired before you ask,” he said quickly, knowing exactly how she’d react. “We work at it. Every day. Both of you are very headstrong, very determined people, so you have lives outside of each other.”

“We should,” she said. Having one another’s lives completely entangled with the other wasn’t good either. Diana just wished there was a little more of a balance than what they were currently living.

Luke laughed, wondering how the little girl from 22 years ago turned into the beautiful, strong woman before him. “Absolutely. But because of that, and especially the jobs you’ve chosen, you just have to commit to giving 100 percent of yourself at work, and then giving the same amount to Michael whenever you do have the time together. You remember Alex Blake, right? She comes around every so often to catch up with Daddy?” 

“Yea, of course,” she nodded. Alex Blake had been another one of her daddy’s mentors before she was born. After a really heavy case, she ended up leaving to pursue other things and spend more time with her husband.

“Well, she and her husband had that kind of a marriage. Apparently, Daddy didn’t even know she was married the first few months she worked there. But they both had things they loved.” He chuckled, realizing the similarity between Alex and James, and Diana and Michael. “In their case, he was the doctor and she was the agent, but they made it work, because they both put their all into their work and then when they were together, they acted like two kids who’d just fallen in love because they put their all into each other. It’s how Daddy and I work too, we just happen to have worked together for a very long time.”

When she thought about it like that it made more sense. Last time she’d seen Alex, she’d been with her husband and had marveled at the fact that they, like her dads, still looked like two teenagers in love. “I think the reason they, and your Daddy and I, are still in love like we are is because we have that kind of separation. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some months that Michael will just have back-to-back cases. That happened with us too, but for the most part it won’t be like this, and you’ll have more time together.”

“I hope so,” Diana sighed. She knew he was right, but Michael had been gone, not home for more than a couple days at a time, for about three months now, so she really, really missed him.

“How about you and I go to lunch before you go to class today?” Luke asked, seeing Diana’s still sour mood. She nodded, wanting to get her mind off things for a little bit. Class would do the rest later. “And as for how you’re feeling, I would let Michael know as soon as he gets home. Conversation is at least 80 percent of a marriage. If not more.” It had taken Spencer years of Luke telling him to talk out his feelings before he did it without being asked, so Luke couldn’t help but laugh.

“Thanks, Dad.”

— 

It was another couple of weeks before Spencer and Michael returned from work for more than a couple of hours, but the Section Chief said that the BAU deserved a week or so off, so barring any extreme emergencies, he would send another team out so they could have some time off.

Spencer had texted shortly after Michael, saying how much he loved and missed her. During the week they’d all get together and have breakfast together, but for now, he missed her Dad and wanted to go home. She couldn’t help but smile at the message. If she and Michael were as in love as her dads still were 30 years down the line, she’d count herself blessed.

“Hey, baby,” Michael said sleepily as he walked through the door. “I’ve missed you.” He practically fell into her arms.

“I’ve missed you too.” She pulled him towards the couch and cuddled into his lap. “Can we talk? And that’s not a bad thing, I just need to say how I’m feeling.” 

As Michael nodded, his eyes widened a bit. He was trying to stay awake. “I’ve really missed you,” she said, heaving an enormous sigh. “I know our jobs are what they are and everything, and that marriage is work, and you are the only one I wanna work with, but I really miss you.”

“I miss you too,” he said, pulling her head into his neck. “How about we start doing what we were doing when I was in college? I can text or call before I go to bed. We’ll send each other videos. Even the small things could help when we have so much time apart.”

Diana turned around, placing herself in his lap as she straddled his thighs. “I’d like that. I want us to be as in love as my dads are and your parents are when we’re their age.”

“We just have to keep acting like we’re dating. Forever. Because I honestly think that’s the key,” Michael laughed, bringing her hands up to his and kissing them. “So when I come home, I’ll surprise you every now and then. We’ll send each other videos. And oh, how about this? Before bed every night when I’m away, we’ll record ourselves reading a page of a book we choose. That way, if we can’t talk, we can at least hear each other’s voices.”

Diana melted into his chest, her fears immediately subsiding. As long as they had each other and continued to communicate, they’d be fine, no matter how difficult things got. Without words, she told him that reading to each other sounded wonderful. They’d done it when they were dating and it was one of the many reasons she fell in love with her childhood crush.

Leaning in on her knees, she pressed a kiss to his lips before traveling down the side of his neck, stopping momentarily when he bit back a moan. “Now how about we go inside? I’ve missed my hubby.”

“You don’t need to ask me twice.”


	93. Little Lime

She had no idea whether or not it was all of the running around, eating very little and the stress of Michael being away on a very difficult case, or whether she was coming down with something, but she’d felt like absolute garbage for about a week. 

Running between classes and clerkships was insanely challenging, although rewarding, and she was starting to lose energy. Thankfully, the end of the semester was coming up and then she only had one left. Internships, residencies and then she’d be Dr. Diana LaMontagne. 

“You still not feeling well?” Charlotte asked. Though they didn’t have more than a class together anymore, they were completing their clerkship at the same hospital. “How long has it been?”

“About a week,” Diana said, taking a bite of her sandwich and making a face. “I love turkey and pickles. Why don’t I wanna eat this?” She put the sandwich down and looked toward where the cafeteria was. She’d have to go get something else.

When she looked up, Charlotte was smiling from ear to ear. “Sweet pea, is there a chance you could be pregnant?”

Diana’s face immediately went slack-jawed. “Yes,” she said hesitantly. “Oh my god, I need a pregnancy test.”

“They actually have some in the gift shop right alongside the teddy bears,” Charlotte laughed ironically. “Let’s go.”

Nearly 20 minutes later, a test had been purchased and she had taken it, leaving it on the sink as she paced back and forth across the bathroom floor. “I gotta ask,” Charlotte started, “How do you feel about being pregnant right now? If you are.”

Diana halted from her rapid pacing and looked Charlotte right in the eye. “Great,” she smiled, bringing her hands up to her mouth. “I mean, insanely nerve-wracking and overwhelming because I still have a semester of med school and residencies and all that stuff, but Michael and I really want kids and with our jobs there’s never really a quote unquote good time, so why not now?”

“Test should be ready.” 

She was too nervous. “You look. I can’t.” 

Charlotte crossed the few steps to the sink where the test lay. “You Diana LaMontagne…are pregnant.”

“Oh my god!”

—-

It had been two days since Diana found out she was pregnant. She’d had a blood test done at the hospital just to make sure and now Michael was coming home. She hadn’t told him yet, wanting to tell him face-to-face. Charlotte was literally the only one who knew; she hadn’t even told her dads yet. 

She was 12 weeks along, meaning she would be having a baby about a month before the semester was over. After freaking out and clapping and trying to think of a cute way to tell him, she thought of one and grabbed a decorative box from the craft store, as well as a lime from the grocery store - and a chocolate bar. Her last stop was a Target nearby where she found a newborn onesie that said “Hello Daddy.”

Excitedly, she drove back home after her internship with just enough time to set up her little surprise. Placing some tissue paper in the box she’d bought, she folded the onesie and placed it on top before placing the lime on one side and a handwritten card on the other. Now all she had to do was wait.

—-

It seemed like days before Michael got home, but it was probably only an hour or so. During that time, she found herself eating guacamole out of the container, but before Michael walked in the door, she hid the evidence. That might’ve given it away. 

“Hey babe,” Michael said as he walked in the door. “What’s up? You look extra happy?”

“What? I can’t be happy that my husband is home?” She leaned into Michael and pressed a kiss to his lips before pulling back. Apparently, she couldn’t keep the sleepy smile off her face.

Michael leaned their heads together, his nose bumping against hers. “Absolutely, but there’s something else. What is it?”

She pulled out the box and handed it to him. “I just got you a little present is all.”

Sitting at the table, Michael glanced between the box and Diana a couple times before opening it. Inside was the lime as well as a card with a note that read, “This is how big I am now.” 

“We have a little lime!” She said excitedly, pointing at her stomach.

Michael’s face dropped instantly, his head flying rapidly between the box and Diana. Quickly, he took the note and the lime out to see the onesie. The tears sprung to his eyes as he hopped back from the table with the onesie still in his hands. “Hello daddy?! You’re pregnant?”

“Mmmhmm.” She reached behind her to grab the pregnancy test, placing it in Michael’s hands. For a few moments, he stared at it in awe. “You’re gonna be a daddy, and I’m gonna be a momma.” As she started to cry, Michael crouched down in front of her and lifted up her shirt, placing small kisses on her barely there stomach.

A sob escaped his lips. “Hi baby,” he said softly between kisses. Diana held onto his dirty blond hair, crying happily as he continued to talk to her stomach. “I love you so much. I can’t wait to meet you.” It seemed like hours that he crouched there, kissing their baby to be. After a few minutes, they had both gone silent, but once he stood up again, the both burst into tears, laughing and kissing as they walked back to bed.


	94. Flipping Through the Pages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Michael tell both sets of parents about their impending "grandparenthood."

“Doing this with all four of them at the same time is absolutely going to give it away?” Michael said, placing everything in its boxes and fixing up the final wrappings. 

After two days of deliberation, Diana, now at 13 weeks pregnant, had suggested surprising each set of grandparents-to-be with a book that they used to read to them as a child. If they weren’t all profilers or in law enforcement, it might have been easier to tell them all at once and not give it away, but considering they were, they would figure it out instantly if told all at once. 

Instead, they’d decided to do it separately. JJ’s birthday was soon, as was Luke’s, so they could trick them into thinking it was a birthday present that both of them would like and surprise, BABY!

As a child, JJ used to read Henry and Michael a book called Bedtime for Baby Star, so they packaged up the book and on the inside they wrote a note. “Will you read this bedtime story to me like you did for my Daddy?” Along with the book were two pairs of little socks, one with soccer balls on them for JJ, who’d undoubtedly want to teach her grandson or granddaughter the game she loved so much, and a pair with New Orleans Saints socks for Will - his favorite football team.

For Luke and Spencer, they chose a book called Daddy, Papa and Me that was always close to Diana’s heart; she even had a copy of it still in her room that she’d glance over whenever she was feeling the pull of nostalgia. Inside the front cover of that one was another note. “Instead of Dad and Daddy, maybe Pop Pop and Poppy?” They got baby socks too. Spencer’s were Tardis socks of course, and Luke, well Luke’s overwhelming love was for peanut butter cups, so Reese’s socks for him. Specifically reese’s pieces, because they were tiny - like the baby. 

“They are going to lose it,” Diana said. “Shall we take bets?”

“What’s the bet?”

Diana thought a moment. “My Daddy’s face is gonna drop, then he’s going to hop out of his seat, and then start to cry. Dad is gonna gasp, do a double take and then burst into tears.”

“I say your Dad bursts out with a what the fuck before he starts crying,” Michael laughed, handing Diana the box with her fathers’ gift. “My dad isn’t going to cry while we’re there probably. Mom though, she’s going to burst almost immediately.”

Diana laughed and leaned into the refrigerator to grab a cup of milk. “I think I’m gonna be craving a lot of milk during the next 6-7 months. And no bets because I’m pretty sure we are absolutely 100 correct in our assumptions.”

“Ready then?” Michael asked with laugh. He extended his hand out to Diana and after making sure they both had their gifts, they headed out the door. 

—-

“I thought the six of us were going to go out tonight,” Will said as they walked in the door. 

Michael feigned hurt. “What? I can’t want to see my parents beforehand? I just figured because mom hates being sung to in a restaurant we’d come and give you your gift now.”

“Good idea,” JJ said, coming over and giving Michael and Diana a hug and a kiss. “I do hate that whole singing in the restaurant thing.”

“Now, this is something that is really for the two of you. You’ll both love it.” As they sat down at the table and looked down, Michael and Diana stole a glance and tried to keep the smiles at bay. 

It felt like an eternity as JJ opened the wrapping, but finally, she flipped the lid on the box. “Oh, it’s Bedtime for Baby Star, I used to read this to you and Henry all the time. I’ve been looking for a new one of these. I lost yours somehow.”

“We left a note inside. Read it,” Diana said. 

Immediately, JJ’s eyes started to water. Michael was right. “Will you read this bedtime story to me like you did for my Daddy?” She stared up at them with a knowing smile before bursting into tears.

It took Will a second. “You’re pregnant? I’m gonna be a grandpa?” JJ was already burying her head into Michael’s shoulder, telling him what an amazing dad he would be. Will walked over to Diana and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You’re gonna be the most beautiful momma. Next to my own wife of course.”

“Wouldn’t expect anything less, Dad,” she laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes. They switched hugs, Will patting his son on the back and JJ squeezing Diana as tightly as she could without hurting the baby.

“Oh my god, my first grandbaby,” she said, waving her hands at her tears. “We’re still going out to dinner later right?”

“Yea,” Diana laughed. “We just knew we’d blow the secret if we did it all together. We’re going to tell my daddies now.”

As Diana and Michael gave them kisses and left the house, they smiled, watching as JJ hoped right into Will’s arms and screeched.

—-

“Didn’t we say we were going to dinner later?” Luke asked as he opened the door. 

She repeated Michael’s statement from earlier - that she just wanted to give him his present before going to the restaurant, because like JJ, Luke also hated the whole singing at a restaurant thing. “This is really for both of you. Hey Daddy,” she said as Spencer came down the hallways. “And yes we are still going to dinner later, I just wanted to give this to you now.”

“Right, so they don’t sing to him at the restaurant.”

Unlike JJ, Luke ripped open the package to find the book. “We used to read this to you all the time! Thank you,” he smiled. Suddenly, the note inside fell out and onto the floor. 

“Instead of Dad and Daddy, maybe Pop Pop and Poppy?” Spencer read. “What?”

Luke gasped, just as Diana had suspected and immediately, his lip started to quiver. Spencer ran directly into Diana and picked her up off the floor. “We’re gonna be grandpas!” he screamed. “When did we get this old?”

“I have no idea,” Luke laughed, taking Diana from Spencer and squeezing her tight. Spencer embraced Michael, kissing him on the forehead and then jumping up and down more like a happy kid on Christmas than a soon-to-be grandpa in his 50s.

“How far along?” Spencer asked, his smile wide. “Do you have an appointment with the OBGYN? Have you been feeling sick? Are you taking prenatal vitamins?”

“Breathe, Daddy,” Diana laughed. “I have an appointment next week. Haven’t been feeling sick yet, thank god. And yes I’ve already started taking vitamins. I have been craving milk though.”

“Calcium,” Spencer said. “Your body wants calcium.” They’d both assumed Spencer would immediately start crying, but he hadn’t until now. “My grandchild wants calcium. I’m gonna be a grandpa!” 

Luke gathered Spencer to his side and kissed his forehead as they both started tearing. “Holy crap! I never thought we’d be this old,” Luke laughed. “Dinner later?”

“Yea,” Michael said. “Meet at 6?”

“Sounds great.”

Again, as they walked out the door, they couldn’t help but smile as Spencer jumped into Luke’s arms.

—-

About four hours later, Diana and Michael got the restaurant just after both sets of parents. It took them nearly five full minutes to realize that Michael and Diana had arrived, because they were too busy screaming to each other about being grandparents.

This was going to be a fun pregnancy. For one of the first times in Diana’s life, that wasn’t meant to be sarcastic.


	95. Which House?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana recounts some of the cute things Michael has done during her pregnancy to Emma and Alicia, and then when Michael comes home, they decorate the nursery.

“Okay, so what made you two decide to elope? Diana asked. It was in the middle of the day. She had two hours between the end of class and the start of her clerkship, the last one she’d do in medical school, and Emma and Alicia had recently returned from their honeymoon.

Alicia grabbed Emma’s hand entwining their fingers as she rested her head on her wife’s shoulder. “We were doing all this planning and things kept going wrong, so it was frustrating, and then a couple weeks ago we just looked at each other and asked why we were doing this.” Emma laughed, turning to Alicia and placing a kiss on her nose.

“We just figured, all we want to do is get married. We don’t need a party for that,” Alicia said. “So we packed our bags, booked the next cruise and got married on board.”

“And how was the honeymoon?” Diana wondered. 

“We barely left the room, honestly,” Emma laughed. “And you’re not mad?”

Diana shook her head and the baby kicked. She rested her hand on her stomach. “Why would I be mad?”

“Well, because you would’ve been my matron of honor.”

Diana reached over and placed her hand over Emma’s. “That’s all I need to know. Plus, you saved me a whole lot of money. Weddings are expensive. Plus, if it weren’t for my aunt Garcia, we would’ve done this same thing.” 

Emma heaved a sigh of relief and then placed her hand on Diana’s stomach. “How’s the baby? Did you find out the sex?”

“Nah,” she shrugged. “We don’t care. Like genuinely don’t care. I just want them healthy and so far they are good. Michael had been the absolute cutest though.”

Alicia perked up, having practically fallen asleep on Emma’s shoulder. “Yea? Like what?”

“Well, a couple weeks ago, I felt the baby kick for the first time. Michael was home, so I went running outside to tell him.” She laughed, remembering what happened next. “I grabbed his hand, told him what was happening and once his hand was on my stomach, the baby kicked again. He pulled it away, and was like ‘I never want to wash this hand again.’” 

“Awww,” Emma and Alicia said simultaneously. “He’s too cute. Anything else? I want all the cuteness.”

Diana looked down at her stomach again, getting a little more comfortable with her growing bump. “Well, once I started to really show, I could not have felt less sexy, like at all. I was humongous, still am, and I felt awful, but one night, he said out of nowhere that he still found me beautiful. It was completely out of nowhere. When I asked him why, he said, ‘cuz I’m in there.’ Must be a man thing, but I found it cute.” 

“That is so a man thing,” Alicia laughed, “But that is cute.”

“Oh! Oh!” Diana exclaimed. “Just before he left, I really wanted to take a bath, so he fixed it for me. It was warm, not hot, because he said I would be cooking the baby. My husband’s such a loser. But he’s my loser.”

Emma snorted, the water she drank nearly coming out of her nose. “Oh my god, he’s such a dork. He’s coming back from a case soon right?”

“Yea,” she said, looking at her watch. It was about time to go to her clerkship. “He’s coming home and we are gonna do some nursery decorating. I gotta go though. Being a super mommy is hard.”

“But you’re great at it,” Alicia said. “We are gonna go home and…”

“Oh, I know!” Diana laughed.

—-

Diana thought it would be a day at most, but then they got called away on another case. Thankfully it was short and the team was home in a matter of a couple days. Emily was the only one still working and she’d be retiring soon. Her dads, JJ and Garcia had all retired. Grandpas and Grandma especially couldn’t wait for all the baby time they’d be getting.

“So we are definite on the design for the nursery right?” Michael asked. Considering it genuinely didn’t matter to them what the sex of the baby was, they decided to just go with something that was close to both of their hearts. Harry Potter. 

Diana nodded excitedly and looked excitedly at the door. Michael hadn’t let her in the room in days. Apparently, there was a surprise. “Good, because I had Emma come in and do something for above the crib.” As he opened the door, Diana immediately started to cry. The hormones were wild. Above where the crib would be was delicate script that read, “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” On the side of the quote was a beautifully painted picture of a white owl. “It’s Hedwig!” Diana was so happy. She’d always loved Hedwig. 

“I’m gonna put the crib together,” he smiled, kissing her cheek as she stared at the quote. “Then we can put the blanket in.” Of course, it had to be a picture of the Marauder’s Map.

Diana started on her project, a little board that said Free Dobby with clothespins to hand random socks from. The room was basically white, with brown and green accents. “I figured on that wall we can have Emma paint the baby’s name in the Harry Potter font,” Michael said excitedly, his eyes widening as a realization dawned on him. “And maybe she can paint the patronus of the doe, because it’s Snape’s and it means Always, and that fits because we’re going to love this baby forever and ever.”

He was so excited Diana started to cry all over again. “I love that idea,” she breathed. “And when the baby gets a little bigger, maybe we can make a mobile out of the flying keys!”

All of a sudden, the baby started kicking incessantly. “I think the baby likes all of these ideas,” she laughed. “So you think the baby is gonna be a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor?” 

After a few moments, they both said at the same time. “Hufflepuff.”


	96. A New Addition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Michael have a baby!

It was honestly a miracle that between Michael’s cases, Diana’s classes and clerkship, and the rapid pace of soon-to-be baby life, that Diana and Michael managed to carve out time for dinner with the grandparents to be about two weeks before her due date. “How are you feeling?” Luke asked as Diana waddled into the house.

“Fat! I’m feeling fat!” she laughed. Michael ducked into her and pecked her on the cheek, saying that no matter what size she was, she’d be the most beautiful woman in the world. “Other than that I’m okay. I’ve actually enjoyed pregnancy, but I’m a little bit over it now, because I have to pee every five seconds. Speaking of, I have to pee.”

She waddled as fast as she could past her dads, in-laws and husband. Finally, after going to the bathroom three more times, everyone sat down to dinner. “Do you have names yet?” Spencer asked. Naming Diana had come fairly easily to them, but neither Michael nor Diana had said anything about baby names for girls or boys.

JJ looked over excitedly. “Oh. Yes. Names? Do we have names? I need a name!”

“Sorry, mama,” Diana laughed, kissing her mother-in-law on the top of the head. “We are keeping that secret until he or she gets here.” Sitting had become bothersome as of late; Diana couldn’t sit still, so she walked around a lot. As she told JJ that they did in fact have names picked out for a girl and a boy, Will spoke to her stomach, telling the baby how much he couldn’t wait to meet his first grandbaby. “Ow!”

Out of nowhere, she grabbed her stomach and the room went silent. “Oh nooooo…” she said, looking down at her stomach and rubbing it gently. “You’re not supposed to be here yet. You have two more weeks.” 

She sat down, insisting to Michael, dads and in-laws that she wasn’t sure if it was full-on labor yet. “It still could be false contractions.” They went about dinner as normal, talking randomly about Diana’s impending graduation from medical school, a couple of lighter cases that Michael had taken on at the BAU, and the soon-to-be baby time that all the grandparents would have. To say they were excited was an understatement. “Gotta pee again.” 

Two minutes later, she came out of the bathroom. “I am, in fact, in labor.”

“Oh my god,” Michael said, standing up and clapping his hands. “This is happening. It’s actually happening. Are you okay?”

“Right now, yea. I may squeeze your hand off later. Is the baby bag in the car?”

Michael nodded as all the parents stood up and put on jackets, getting ready to leave the house. “I’m gonna be a grandpa. Babe, we’re gonna be grandpas,” Luke said. Both of her dads had been in a near constant state of emotion, as Diana’s due date grew closer. 

Fifteen minutes later, everyone made it into the hospital. “Hi, my name is Diana LaMontagne and I have a baby coming out of me,” she said to the woman at the desk. She laughed and led Diana into a room. Thankfully, there was a private room; she had absolutely no desire to share a room with another screaming, crying pregnant woman. She’d barely be able to stand herself. The contractions were about seven minutes apart now and they were painful, not excruciatingly so, but they weren’t fun – that she knew. 

“How are you feeling right now?” Michael asked, once Diana had got changed into a hospital gown and been situated on her bed. JJ couldn’t help but smile watching her son and his impending fatherhood; he looked so much like Will when he’d heard about Henry and Michael.

Diana pushed up, trying to comfortable, which was probably a futile effort. “They hurt, but so far I’m okay. All of the grandparents were in the room, and would be the entire time. Her only stipulation is that the only people who could actually look at the baby being born were Michael and JJ, because ‘husband’ and ‘did it before.’ The doctor came in a few minutes later and said she’d probably have a fairly short labor, especially for a first time mother. She was already dilated a little more than halfway. “I’m nervous.” She immediately closed her mouth as if she hadn’t intended to say it.

“For the actual birthing process or motherhood?” Spencer asked.

“Definitely both, but more so impending motherhood. What if I fuck this kid up?” 

Michael laughed and assured her that though they were both a little fucked up (who wasn’t really), they’d be fine. “We said the same thing once we knew we were having you,” Luke added. “I’m pretty sure I used a very similar statement actually. But you turned out fantastically well, so I think you’ll be okay.” 

It was still nerve-wracking. This baby was going to be dependent on her for a minimum of 18 years and more likely for the rest of his or her life; she just hoped she’d be able to do this little baby justice.

The next four hours went by and she was nearly dilated. Her contractions at this point were killer. “Oh my god, I literally feel like someone is ripping my body apart.”

“Technically that’s kind of true,” Spencer said, hesitating like he was going to say something else.

Diana glared at him. “Daddy, I love you, but I swear I will have to kill you if you give me facts about pregnancy and birth right now. I think I’m dying.” Michael repeatedly wiped her brow, the sweat pooling almost immediately after the towel left her head. “Okay, I’m getting that feeling like this is happening now and I want to push, so please go get the doctor so I can figure out whether or not I’m out of my mind.”

Will laughed out loud as Michael sped out of the room for the doctor. Again, very much like him when his kids were being born. “Hello again, Diana,” her OB said. “Let’s check you out. Yes, you are actually ready to push. Most first time moms don’t know that.”

“I’m graduating medical school in six weeks,” Diana huffed. “I’ve heard what this hell is like, but my god, I’m in pain. I want this kid out of me.” Michael bent down and kissed her head, while the grandparents took their places in the corner of the room.

For nearly half an hour, she pushed, sweating and crying through the fiery pain that was encompassing her body. At one point, Michael was sure she’s squeezed her hand off and as she looked around she saw her dads and in-laws in various states of happy tears and laughter. “You’ve got another push or two and your baby is here, Diana,” the OB said. “Push! 10, 9, 8, 7…”

She pushed down with all of her might, gritting her teeth through the pain, when suddenly she felt the bottom half of the baby slide out in one movement. Both mom and baby burst into tears as she was placed on her stomach. “It’s a girl!” Diana reached down and cradled her baby to her chest. “It’s a girl,” Michael said in amazement. “We made that.”

There was not a dry eye in the house, doctors included. While all grandparents immediately wanted to scoop the baby girl up, they didn’t, giving mom and dad time to adjust. “I have a granddaughter!” JJ cried. “Can we have a name now?”

Michael just stared at his daughter in awe as Diana spoke through the tears. “Molly Emma LaMontagne.” Considering Harry Potter had played such a big part in both their lives, and even their relationship when it was just starting out, they found it fitting to name their daughter after the badass Weasley matriarch. While they also could’ve named the baby after any number of badass women they knew, they decided against picking and choosing and finally settled on Molly. Emma was of course for Diana’s best friend, who’d stood by her through thick and thin.

Luke and Spencer bent down one after the other to give her a kiss on the forehead. “You did such a great job, baby girl,” Luke breathed, as he smoothed down her hair.

After taking Molly to get weighed and measured, she was placed in Diana’s arms, all swaddled up at 7 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long. “She so beautiful,” Diana cried. She never believed she’d be able to love someone so much. “Who wants to hold her first?”

All four grandparents raised their hands immediately, eventually deciding on passing her from the closest, Luke, then to Spencer, then JJ and finally Will. “I’m gonna text Emma and Alicia, try and feed her, and then I’m gonna take a nap.” Michael chuckled at Diana’s sleepy eyes. He couldn’t imagine going through that; she was his Wonder Woman.

Hey Emma, you and Alicia have a niece! Come over when you’re ready!

After sending the message, she took Molly and attempted to breastfeed for the first time. “Oh that’s weird,” she said, her mind immediately going to a Friends episode she remembered. So when Spencer asked if it was a bad or a good weird, she replied. “A wonderful weird.”

Shortly after, she fell asleep and Michael followed suit while the grandparents were there and more than willing to take care of baby Molly, so she woke up about an hour later when Emma and Alicia walked into the room. “Hi, Di,” she said softly, bending down to give her best friend a hug. When she looked to the side, Will was holding the baby. “That’s my niece!”

Alicia brought her hands up to her face and covered a sob. “What’s her name?”

Diana grabbed Emma’s hand. “Molly Emma LaMontagne.”

“You named her after me?” Emma sobbed. Alicia took Molly from Will and placed her in Emma’s arms. Michael immediately got up to allow her to sit down, because honestly he was still afraid someone was going to drop Molly and break her; she was so tiny. “Oh my god…” she cried. “Hi Molly, I’m your Aunt Emma. That’s Aunt Alicia, and we love you so much. We’re gonna be the cool aunts you come to when mommy and daddy are pissing you off. Okay?”

A few moments later, Diana started to cry. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” she said. “Hormones…I just love her so much.”

She was tiny, still a little pinkish, a lot squirmy, and already hungry again. But she was beautiful, and she was perfect.


	97. Mommy Panic

The second they had drive away from the hospital, with Diana and baby Molly in the back seat, Diana had started to panic. She was now thrown into that crazy thing called motherhood at full speed with no time for adjustment, and it was really, really terrifying. “You okay, babe?” Michael asked. He was pretty sure Diana was snapping the band on her wrist - something she still did on occasion to allay anxiety. “We’re gonna be okay.”

“I know,” she said. And she did, truly, but being a mom was scary. She wouldn’t trade Molly for anything in the world, but it didn’t make being a mom any less scary. “I just know we are gonna get so overwhelmed, and I still have to graduate medical school in a couple weeks and obtain an internship. It’s just…a lot.”

Michael nodded, turning the car onto the block where they lived. “I know, but you’re my Wonder Woman. You’ll be okay, and we’re lucky enough to have the help of all four grandparents.”

“I’m your Wonder Woman?” she asked, touched, but also a little confused by the sentiment. “What do you mean?”

As they pulled back up to the apartment complex, Michael came around to Diana’s side of the car and opened the door. Molly was okay for a second, so he pulled his wife out of the car and gave her a hug. “Yea. You can do it all. You’re smart. You’re tough. You never give up. You’re nice to other people. You want the best for everyone and you managed to be pregnant and still excel in your classes. You’ve never gotten anything under an A minus, and in med school, I would say that’s saying something. You’re Wonder Woman. My Wonder Woman.” Michael gave her a peck on the nose and then picked up the diaper bag while she picked up Molly like she was the most delicate paper doll. 

“When we get inside can you take her while I clean up?” she asked. Given that she was a medical student, she learned these things, but so many women didn’t know that you could go through extensive bleeding after having a baby, and it was all completely natural. By the feeling, she was pretty that Molly wasn’t the only one who was going to need to wear a diaper for the next few weeks.

“Yea,” Michael laughed. She’d already warned him of what happened to women after birth, and he, like most men and women, had absolutely no idea. Once inside, she went to the bathroom, cleaned herself up and went back outside to feed the baby. She’d already made plans with all of her professors and the clerkship so that she wouldn’t be missing much while still being home with Molly. “You okay?”

Diana nodded sleepily, placing her nipple in front of Molly’s mouth. “Yea, but the entire birthing and after birth process, although natural, is fucking gross.”

Michael snorted under his breath and got up to do the dishes they’d left before going to the hospital. “You do that,” he said. “You have the portable food. I’ll do the dishes.”

Thank god she had Michael, her fathers and her in-laws, because by the sleep in her eyes, she was pretty sure the first few weeks (until she graduated) were going to be hell.

—–

While the first few days had been hectic, both of them spending all their time with the baby, the next few days allowed them to fall into a rhythm. Although tired, she felt like they were working well together. Molly seemed like a happy baby and they were going through more diapers than Diana every thought possible, but they were good…until she needed to start doing some of her class work…at home. 

She’d feel an insane amount of guilt every time Molly cried and she couldn’t be there, because she needed to get her work done. “Baby,” Michael said as Diana sobbed. “We’re going to be fine and neither of us will be able to be there for everything okay?”

“I know,” she cried, “But it’s hard.”

By the second week, both of them were absolutely exhausted. “Daddy?” Diana asked sleepily into the phone.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Spencer said, alarmed at the sound of Diana’s voice. “I think we’re dying. Michael and I are so tired…he’s calling JJ and Will, can you all come over? Need sleep.”

Spencer chuckled softly. It felt like only yesterday he’d made the same call to JJ. “Yea, baby,” he said. “Dad and I will be over in a few.”

Diana and Michael barely managed to keep their eyes open, but they made it until reinforcements came in. “I don’t know why she’s crying and I did schoolwork this morning, and I’m really tired.”

“I know,” Luke said, kissing his daughter on the forehead. “The two of you take a nap. We’ll wait for JJ and Will.” Spencer took Molly from Diana’s arms, holding her in such a way that Molly immediately quieted.

She was about to break down, ask what she was doing wrong that she couldn’t get her own baby to stop crying, but she was too tired. “Thank you,” she said softly. “Wake us up if you need us.”

As Diana and Michael went inside, Spencer and Luke couldn’t help but laugh to themselves. “Who would’ve known we’d ever be here? Same position, more than 20 years later.”

—–

When the new parents woke up two hours later, JJ and Will were there also. JJ and Luke were cooking and Will and Spencer were taking care of Molly, changing what was probably Molly’s 80th diaper. “Oh, you’re awake,” JJ said, coming over to kiss both of them. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Michael said. “Not great, but better. Babies are hard.”

“If that ain’t true, I don’t know what is,” Will said, holding a now sleeping Molly in his arms. “She’s been fine though.”

“Of course,” Diana said, “She’s good for you, but Mommy, nooooooo.”

“We felt the same way,” Spencer said.

JJ chimed in. “Us too. But don’t worry, we made food for the next few days, Molly’s been fine, and we also did some laundry.”

“I love you all,” Diana sighed, leaning her head into Michael’s upper arm. “I think we’re good from here.”

—–

A few days later, Diana had to go in to take a couple of tests. Her professors had allowed work to be done at home so she could focus on Molly, but they needed her in for the tests, so Michael was on his own. It would be about a half hour alone before he called his mother for help, but whatever, he was a first time dad and this was hard. 

It took Diana nearly four hours to complete all the exams she needed to take, and she was pretty sure she was only going to B’s, but all things considered, she’d take it. “Hey, babe,” she said as she walked in the door. “How are you doing? How’s Molly?”

“She’s good,” he said, staring down to where he was holding her little hand. “Not going to lie, I did call mom.”

Diana could not care less, as long as everyone was happy and healthy. As she sat down at his side, she reached out for Molly. She’d only been gone a few hours, but she’d missed her little two-week-old baby girl. “I missed her.”

“It’s weird how that happens, right?” he asked. “I miss her when I go to the bathroom for fucks sake.” Diana laughed as much as her energy would allow, leaning her head into Michael’s shoulder as Molly slept soundly in her arms. Staring down, she felt a mix of emotions. She was a bit sad, which could be “baby blues” or the start of postpartum depression, she’d have to keep on eye on it, but she was also tired, happy, and a so full of love. The little cheeks were getting fuller. Molly was getting accustomed to new sounds. Her eyes, when open, were taking in all the new wonders of the world, while Diana and Michael only saw one wonder - Molly.


	98. Mother's Intuition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael's paternity leave is up, which means Diana is on her own with Molly.

Before Molly was born, Diana hadn’t snapped the rubber band around her wrist in quite some time, but being a mommy brought out a whole wealth of anxiety that had her snapping at it again.

Michael had taken six weeks of paternal leave to help with the baby, but his time was up, and Diana still had a few months until her internship started (thankfully she’d been able to have her dads watch Molly while she went to interview for it). 

As Michael got ready that morning, all was silent, except for Molly crying when she needed her diaper changed. “It’s okay, sweet baby,” he said softly, picking up a diaper and working his magic; he’d become an expert baby diaper changer. Other than her cries, the snapping of Diana’s rubber band could be heard. “You okay, Di?” he asked. It was probably a dumb question to ask, he knew she was nervous, but if she was truly too nervous, he was going to call one of their parents over. 

“I’m just really nervous,” she said, coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist as he finished changing Molly’s diaper. “You and I just started getting into a rhythm and now I have to get into a rhythm with someone who can’t talk to me.” She chuckled softly into his back. “I’m scared I’ll do something wrong. Plus…I’ll just miss you.”

Michael finished up changing Molly and picked her up, placing her in the cradle and gently rocking her as he swayed back and forth with his wife. “This baby stuff is hard,” he said. “But you’re much more capable than you think.” Diana thanked the gods for Michael, who always seemed to know the right thing to say.

“How are you doing?” she asked. While she had the anxiety of dealing with Molly by herself, Michael had to deal with the fact that he’d now be separated from his daughter. 

Michael sighed, the two of them still swaying as Molly fell asleep in her crib. “I’m not bad. Not nervous, but…I feel guilty. Like I should be here, for you and her.” He turned around, leaning his head against Diana’s as he looked at Molly. “I know she’s only six weeks old and she probably doesn’t comprehend a whole hell of a lot, but I can’t help feeling like she’s gonna remember me not being here when I’m on cases.”

“Did you feel that way about your mom and dad?” she asked. “Were you ever mad that they weren’t there sometimes?

Michael shook his head. “No, they were stopping the bad guys and they loved doing it.”

“And did you ever think that they didn’t love you because they loved their jobs?”

Michael smiled. He knew what she was driving at, but he was going to remember this so he could use the same logic on her when she had to start her internship. “No. They loved me and Henry, as well as the job,” he sighed. Diana was right of course, but that didn’t help the fact that they both still felt guilty for a number of reasons. 

He looked at the time on his phone. “I have to go,” he said, leaning down and kissing her. “I love you so much. I love you so much.” He turned toward Molly’s crib and blew her a kiss. “And remember, everyone is retired, so don’t feel like any of them don’t want to be here all the time.”

Diana couldn’t help but laugh; she was pretty sure all four grandparents would drop everything if she needed help, but first, she was going to try things herself.

—-

The first day went by without a hitch. Molly was a fairly sleepy baby and when she was awake, she was either eating or pooping and she was pretty quiet. Diana only woke up three times that night, but she was able to feed Molly quickly and go back to bed. 

It was the second day that she started to feel a little bit on over her head. “Okay, baby, mommy’s coming,” she said, standing at the sink with wet and soapy hands as Molly screamed bloody murder from inside. Diana had left her in the crib, sleeping of course, in order to catch up on some of the housework, but apparently, the fates didn’t want her baby to sleep today. “I’m coming baby!”

She pulled a towel off the rack and dried her hands, quickly running inside to cradle Molly. Patting her diaper, she realized that nothing was wrong there, so she sat down and attempted to feed her, but after suckling for a few seconds Molly wasn’t into that either, and then her phone rang. “Hey Michael,” she said, as Molly wailed in her arms.

“Doing that well?”

“Yea,” Diana sighed. “She’s not hungry, her diaper is fine. I don’t really know what to do.”

“What about that song you said your dad used to sing to you?” he asked, eliciting a laugh from Diana when he butchered the name.

“You mean arrorro mi nino?” Maybe that would work. “Where are you going now?”

“I just came outside to call and check on you, but I have to go back in. I love you both.”

“Love you too. babe.” She hung up the phone as Molly continued to wail, and took a deep breath, remembering the lyrics that her dad, and occasionally even her daddy (who never liked to sing much) would sing to her.

Arrorró mi niño,  
arrorró mi sol,  
arrorró pedazo,  
de mi corazón.

Este niño lindo  
ya quiere dormir;  
háganle la cuna  
de rosa y jazmín.

Háganle la cama  
en el toronjil,  
y en la cabecera  
pónganle un jazmín  
que con su fragancia  
me lo haga dormir.

Arrorró mi niño,  
arrorró mi sol,  
arrorró pedazo,  
de mi corazón.

As the song came to a close, Diana opened her eyes to see Molly calm and alert. She brought her finger gently across Molly’s cheek, and all of a sudden, she smiled. Diana had studied all of the baby milestones and when they were likely to occur so she could keep up on Molly’s development. This was a social smile. A smile that was actually meant as a gesture of warmth and not a passing gas kind of smile. Immediately, Diana lifted her phone up over her head in an attempt to catch the moment and send it to Michael. “Hi sweet baby girl,” Diana said, her nerves from before gone for at least a moment. Her baby girl was smiling. “Hiya Molly.”

Molly smiled again, and Diana felt herself start to cry. It was amazing how much she loved this little girl. While sending the video to Michael, she started to rock in the chair and Molly seemed to get sleepy. It was about seven minutes later that Michael texted back. 

\---IS SHE SMILING? IS MY LITTLE BABY SMILING? 

Diana texted back, chuckling softly so as to not wake Molly. “Yup, she can’t wait to smile for you.”

\---How do you know? 

He added a laughing emoji at the end of his message.

“Mother’s intuition.”


	99. #MomLife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana and Molly's adventures.

…ppppppp. All of the crying had ceased. Diana was holding Molly on the changing table, had turned to grab a onesie and then that. That was poop. That was definitely poop. She’d just pooped. And now she pooped again. Diana was swimming in poop. “It’s a good thing you’re cute,” she laughed at a now smiling Molly. Apparently, she just hand’t been feeling well and needed to poop – a lot . “Because you’re smelly.” 

Molly cooed, her toothless smile seemingly teasing Mommy about how she’d pooped all over the place. “You know what? How about a bath?” She actually liked baths. After cleaning her up enough to not trail poop throughout the apartment, she transferred Molly to the sink, naked as a jaybird.

At just a little over three months, Molly was starting to recognize her mommy and daddy, as well as the grandparents. She’d smile at other people, but she knew who was who, and Diana could not have been happier. Once the sink was ready, she plopped her down into the sink and didn’t bother to watch where Molly was moving her hands, because she’d only started to flap them around, which resulted in Molly splashing some water down Diana’s shirt. “Thankfully, I’m wearing a crappy pajama top. Again, I say, it’s a good thing you’re cute.”

While she bathed the very happy baby, she continued to talk to her about all different types of things, mostly Disney movies though. At her own Daddy’s behest, Diana talked to Molly all the time, as did Michael, when he was home. Parents who talked to their kids all the time tended to raise children with larger IQs, so Diana figured it couldn’t hurt. “And Moana and Beauty and the Beast are some of my favorites, because Moana is a badass who don’t need no man, and Belle loves books, so it’s the perfect mix that makes your mommy.” Molly stared wide-eyed as the water and suds cleaned her up; she was no longer a stinky, smelly baby.

Touch, both human and otherwise was starting to be of importance at this age, so Diana picked up an extra fluffy towel, almost a robe-like material, and used it to dry little missy off when she felt a rumble in her pocket. “Hey Michael,” she said, “How’s the case going?”

“Caught the fucker,” Michael said happily. “We’re actually on our way home. How’re my babies?”

“Well, I am soaking wet because your daughter decided it would be funny to splash her bath water on me,” she said, her voice nearly breaking out into a fit of laughter. Michael did it for her.

“Good going, Molls.” He chuckled. “Can you send me a picture?” While she was still on the phone, she lifted it up and took a picture of a naked Molly and a soaking wet Mom. “She’d looking adorable and you are looking beautiful as always. If it were my choice though, that’s not the reason you’d be wet.”

“Michael!” she snorted.

“What!? It’s not as if she can tell what the means at barely three and a half months old.”

After talking for a few more minutes, they hung up, promising to have a little baby time and a little mommy and daddy time when Michael came home. He’d had two back-to-back cases, but his schedule seemed to be steadier as of the last month or so.

Molly seemed to like being naked (who didn’t really) so she put her down on the floor for tummy time and let her be free. She was starting to roll over on her own, which was so exciting, but also terrifying because once she started moving around a bunch that meant nothing was safe. She was also grabbing at everything, including hair, which was always fun.

The entire day passed by in a blur until Michael came home at around 7 PM. Molly had napped a lot during the day, so she wasn’t going to go down for the night for another couple hours. “Hey,” he said quietly, kissing Molly on the head before giving his wife a slow and lazy kiss. “How’re you two?”

“We’re good,” she said, passing Molly over. She leaned back happily, curling into herself while Michael laid Molly on his chest.

As he kissed her on the forehead, she lifted her hand and hit him in the face. “Well, that’s new,” he laughed. “That’s how mommy got all wet earlier.”

“Yup,” Diana laughed sleepily. “And then we talked about Disney movies. I told her my favorites are Moana and Beauty and the Beast because the lead ladies put together make me.”

“True story,” Michael replied, looking at Molly and holding both of her tiny hands. “Daddy’s favorites are The Lion King, the Emperor’s New Groove, which is totally underrated, and Moana because Moana is a badass like mommy.”

“That’s what I said!” she exclaimed excitedly.

After a few moments, during which Michael made funny faces at his daughter, he had an idea. “Since, I have off tomorrow, why don’t we go to the park with her and then maybe ask the grandparents to watch her…have some mommy and daddy time?”

Diana couldn’t wait. “Hell yes.”

—

The next day, they woke up at around 8; Molly had only been up once during the night, but she was starting to sleep more, which made Diana extremely happy. Then the two switched off showering, getting dress and eating, so that by about 11, they were ready to head to the park. She napped nearly the entire time they were there, but Michael and Diana had a nice walk. It was actually one of the few times they’d gotten out since she was born. “Hey Dad,” she said when Luke picked up the phone. “You ready for your granddaughter?”

“Am I ever not ready?” he laughed. He and Spencer were going to take care of her today, while JJ and Will went out on a date, then next time, they’d take Molly, so he and Spencer could go out for a movie or dinner. “We are excitedly waiting the queen’s arrival.”

“I’m glad you referred to her as a queen,” Diana said. “My baby is no princess. She’s rules all. She lords over all of you grandparents.”

“Don’t I know it.”

By 12:30, Diana and Michael pulled up to her fathers’ house and handed over Molly. “She’s been fed within the hour. I just changed her before we left the park. Everything’s in there. I don’t know why I’m rambling, you’ve done this before.” She stopped suddenly. Spencer looked down fondly at the little squirmy bundle in his arms.

“So what are you guys planning for today?” Luke asked.

Michael pulled Diana close to him. “Honestly? Probably sleep.”

“Yes!” Diana said, pumping her fists in the air and jumping into Michael’s arms. “Carry me!”

“And we’re off,” Michael laughed. “Talk to you in a few hours.”


	100. It All Begins Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana starts her internship, which forces her to find the balance of being a Doctor and a Mother.

About a week before Diana was supposed to start her internship, her anxiety went into hyperdrive. How could someone feel so excited at starting an internship, but such fear at leaving her baby at the same time? She felt like she was going to explode. “Di,” Spencer said softly. “It’s gonna be okay. She will have at least two of us at a time.”

“But what if she ends up hating me for being away all the time?” Diana asked as the tears welled in her eyes.

Spencer took her into his arms and hugged her tightly. He and Luke had felt the exact same way. “Did you hate Dad and I for being away a lot?”

“No,” she said, as her tears stained her Daddy’s shirt. “But you and Dad…one of you was always here.”

“That’s true,” Spencer replied, swaying back and forth with Diana in his arms. “But we did that because Dad’s parents didn’t live here and your grandma wasn’t able to take care of you the way we needed, but you and Michael have all four of us - and we’re retired.”

Diana pulled back, wiping the tears from her eyes and attempting to crack a smile. She had to go soon. When she saw her dad walk out with Molly in his arms, she burst into tears. “Hey, Molly. Mommy loves you so much. Okay?”

“It’s about quality not quantity, baby,” Luke said, using his free hand to wipe a tear from his daughter’s eye. “You give your all with her, and then you go and give your all at work. And to be honest, I think the some of the best parents,” he smiled, nodding between himself and Spencer, “Turn out to be great parents because they learn to balance a whole mess of different things. If either one of us were to only focus on one thing, whether it be you or work, we’d feel like something was missing because that’s not all we are.”

“You are a mom, Di,” Spencer said. “Through and through. But you’re also a doctor, and down the road, if you decided to do one and not the other, you wouldn’t feel complete. You put the two together and you make you.”

Diana knew they were right. Of course. They were always right, which was really fucking annoying. “You’re right,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Okay, gimme her for a second. Hey, baby. I love you so much, and so does Daddy. I’ll see you later. Be good for Pop Pop, Poppy, Pop and Nana.” JJ and Will would be over in a little while. After handing her back to her Dad, Diana gave them all a hug, kissed Molly on the head a few thousand times more and walked out the door. It was time to learn balance.

—-

As JJ walked in the door, with Will following closely behind, she smiled at Molly, sitting in her Poppy’s (Spencer’s) arms. “Hello, Molly,” she said. “How was Mommy this morning? Was she a mess?”

“Oh yea,” Spencer chuckled. “But when she left she was okay.”

“Gimme my favorite granddaughter,” Will said, picking Molly up and lifting her over his head. Between the four of them, they’d decided that some days, they’d all take care of her, and others each set of them would have the honors. That way she got a little bit of everything. “Oh, tummy time, I remember that.” Flying her through the air, Will place her on the blanket where Diana had set up tummy time. Molly was holding her head up now and she was rocking back and forth in an attempt to move from her tummy to her back. 

“How is she so big already?” JJ asked, sitting on the floor against the rocking chair Spencer was sitting in with her knee gathered to her chest. “Wasn’t it just yesterday we were doing this with our own kids?”

Spencer sighed happily, waiting with bated breath for Molly to move from her stomach to her back; it would be any day now if it didn’t happen today. All of a sudden, she rolled onto her back and started smiling. “Yes!” Spencer said excitedly. “My granddaughter is a genius!” 

Each of the grandparents picked out a toy to put in front of her. Touch was a big thing at this age. JJ picked a rattle. Will picked a stuffed bunny. Luke picked a little car. And Spencer, of course, picked a book. It was called Pat the Bunny and had a lot of textures in the pages, specifically for babies just experiencing touch. He was elated when Molly picked the book. “Yes, she’s gonna be a reader.”

“Just like Mommy,” Luke laughed. Spencer crawled to her side, feeling his age and realizing that he might not be able to get up again. But it didn’t matter. He flipped through the pages, taking her hand and running it over the different soft and smooth textures, telling her which one was which. 

After a while, Molly needed some food and a nap, so Luke fed her and Will put her to bed. “It’s Di,” Spencer said, picking up the phone. “Hey sweetie. How’s your first day going?”

“I’m okay. It’s interesting and I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but my mind is still at home. How’s my munchkin?” Spencer walked into the nursery and took a picture of little Molly sleeping soundly and sent it over.

“She’s perfect, of course,” he said. “You see the picture?”

She did. Molly was fine. Of course she was. It would take some time getting used to, but eventually, she, Michael, Molly and everyone else would sink into another routine that worked for them, and Molly would never grow up feeling like she was unloved. “Yea,” she said. “My baby is beautiful, if I do say so myself.”

“I mean, I might be biased,” Spencer said. “But I happen to agree.” He could sense a slight bit of hesitancy still in his daughter’s voice. When he walked out of the nursery, he sat in the middle of JJ, Will and Luke. 

She mentioned feeling guilty again, not as bad as this morning, but it was still there. Both in regards to Molly and in regards to putting pressure on the grandparents to watch her all the time, while she and Michael figured out their schedules. “We are honored to watch her grow up,” JJ said. “And you’re amazing parents.”

“She’ll always know that,” Spencer said.

Luke pulled Spencer in to his shoulder. “We promise.”


	101. You Need Him More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four years after Molly is born, she awakes from a nightmare and seeks comfort in one of Diana's old friends.

“Momma! Daddy!”

On a rare night where both were home, Molly’s blood-curdling screams roused them from their sleep at nearly 2 o’clock in the morning. They ran inside, nearly out of breath at the thought of something having happened to their little girl. When they entered, the little curly, light brown-haired girl was shaking, but she was physically unharmed. Michael of course checked all around the room, in the closet and peered out the window to make sure no one was around, but there wasn’t It just seemed as if their daughter had had a nightmare. “Hey baby,” Diana said softly, cradling her daughter’s head against her chest. “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?” 

Molly shook her head up and down as her lip quivered. “Yea.” She grabbed a pillow from under her head and brought it around to hug it. 

“Do you remember what the nightmare was about?” Michael asked. They both tried their best not to talk about the horrors of their jobs in front of her, but being a precocious 4-year-old meant she occasionally enjoyed eavesdropping.

Molly moved over from Diana’s chest to Michael’s as she started to tell them about the dream. “I was standing on a big rock and I saw the water. It was the ocean,” she said, as little tears started to fall from her eyes. Diana took the pad of her thumb and wiped away her baby’s tears. “I was just sitting and look at the water. It was white on top. Then when I looked down again, I wasn’t sitting on the rocks anymore. There was nothing there! And there wasn’t any ocean either! It went away! And then I was falling and falling and I woke up! I got scared! I’m sorry…” She was still shaking as the tears rolled onto her pillow.

“Oh, baby,” Michael cooed, kissing his daughter’s forehead. “What are you sorry about?”

“I woke you and momma up,” she whispered.

Michael chuckled as the sleep weighed down his eyes. Sure he was tired, but nothing mattered more than his girls. “It’s okay, baby,” he said, opening his arms so she could get a proper hug. “We’re just glad you’re okay.” He handed her over to Diana so she could give her a hug too. 

“Yea, you never have to worry about waking us up if you’re in danger, or you’re scared. It’s always okay.” Molly nodded her head, her tears and boogers wiping against the t-shirt Diana slept in. Ah, mom life. She remembered the days when she’d had nightmares and her dads slept in her room. She still had nightmares, though the nature of them had changed a lot over the years. Then it was monsters, now it was not able to save her family from danger. There was always something that made her feel better. “I had something that always made me feel safe,” Diana said as she gave Molly a kiss on the nose. “Do you want me to go get it? Daddy will stay right here.”

Molly nodded her head vigorously, sitting back into her father’s embrace and closing her eyes. Diana walked into her bedroom and went to the closet, searching around for the container that held what she was looking for. After a few moments of digging, she found it and returned to Molly’s room. “Hey, baby,” she said, handing over the stuffed rabbit. Considering it was over 20 years old, it had faired pretty well. “This is Thumper. Poppy and Pop Pop got him for me when I was only a couple years older than you. He always kept me safe when I had nightmares, and I think he could do the same for you.”

Reaching out, the little girl grabbed the bunny and smiled at it. “Hi, Thumper.” She closed her eyes and hugged the bunny, burying her head in its ratty fuzziness. “He’s a naked bunny. He needs clothes.”

“I have all types of clothes,” Diana said fondly, recalling both the Star Wars shirt and sparkly skirts Thumper used to wear. “And we can go to Build-a-Bear and buy some new clothes for you to put on him.”

“Can I buy sparkly shoes?”

“Of course you can, Molls,” Michael yawned, playfully snoring as he rested his head on top of hers. 

Molly lifted Thumper up and smacked Michael in the head with it. “Wake up, Daddy!”

Diana watched as he continued to pretend snore, going so far as to crawl into Molly’s tiny bed and then use her as a teddy bear. “You can have Thumper and I get you.” He wrapped both of his arms around her and gave her a thousand kisses, unwilling to leave her unless she was smiling from ear-to-ear. 

“Momma, what happens if I dream I’m falling again?” She’d been laughing with her Daddy, so she was calmer than before, but Diana could see on her face that she was still scared.

“Fly, baby,” she smiled. “It’s your dream, so make yourself fly. That sounds cool right?”

Molly liked that idea. “That would be really cool. Then I could be like a superhero.”

Both parents kissed their little girl goodnight, tucking her in with Thumper now by her side before they started to exit the room. “Momma? Daddy?” she asked one last time as she attempted to rub the sleep out of her eyes. 

“Yea, sweetie?”

“Don’t you still want Thumper? I don’t wanna take him away from you.” She looked down at the stuffed animal, but despite her words, she was still hugging it tightly. 

“You need him more than I do, baby,” Diana said, grabbing Michael’s hand. “Just make sure you bring him for a visit every now and then.”

“Okay, momma.” And within seconds, she fell asleep.


	102. Rich in Family

Luke overacted, huffing and puffing as he passed the couch on his third run around the house - keeping up with the energy of a 10-year-old Molly and 5-year-old Ezra was quite possibly more difficult than chasing an unsub. Maybe not, but almost. “Your turn, babe,” he said, collapsing onto the couch theatrically much to the delight of their grandkids. “I’m so tired.”

“You’re getting old,” Spencer laughed. He leaned over and kissed Luke’s temple before getting up to run after the kids. Diana and Michael came out of from their bedroom having changed into their “costumes,” which consisted of a board covered in tan-colored foam - they were graham crackers. Ezra was a marshmallow and Molly was a chocolate bar.

Diana sauntered down the hallway, practically modeling. Michael looked on, eyes soft and more in love than ever. 

“You definitely are my child,” Spencer laughed, walking up to kiss her forehead. “A complete and total dork.”

Michael snorted, looking both of his fathers-in-law up and down. “What about you?”

Having recovered from running around after the kids, Luke stood up and glanced down at his costume. Both he and Spencer were wearing their regular clothes with pieces of paper taped to them. The paper had a big letter “C” on it with two numbers on the left side - 14 on the top and 6 on the bottom. “What?” Luke shrugged. “It’s awesome.”

JJ and Will had just entered the Alvez-LaMontagne home along with Henry, Alaina and their son, William LaMontagne II. “Spence, what are the two of you even supposed to be?” She asked.

Henry, Michael and Diana spoke at the same time. “Carbon dating.”

“Oh, wow, you two really are nerds,” Will laughed as he picked up his 6-year-old namesake. “Your Uncles Spencer and Luke are dorks.”

Little Will laughed and reached out for his cousins, following in their footsteps. The adults had stopped running after the kids, but they were still going like the energizer bunnies. 

Luke held his hands up like Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune. “What about this, you nerds?”

Feigning hurt, JJ punched him in the shoulder. “Excuse you, we are adorable. We are milk and cookies.”

“You’re dorks too,” Michael and Henry said at the same time.

“We’re all dorks,” Spencer replied, snickering as his “little chocolate bar” pulled on his pant leg. Molly was ready to go. “Dorks are where it’s at.”

Coming up to his side, Luke wrapped his arm around his husband’s shoulder and kissed his cheek. “Only old people use the phrase, ‘where it’s at.’”

“What? We’re old.”

Little Will, Molly and Ezra were waiting patiently at the door, bouncing up and down on their toes in anticipation for all the candy they were going to bring home. “Ready to go?” Alaina asked her son.

“Yes! I want MnMs!” 

Tangled was a favorite Disney movie of little Will’s, so it seemed fitting that Flynn Rider and Rapunzel would take their little Pascale trick-or-treating. 

“Alright!” Diana exclaimed. “Let’s go!”

Immediately, the kids ran out the door with Michael, Henry and Alaina running after them. “Dad?” Diana asked. “Daddy? You two gonna have enough energy to go out?”

Luke grabbed Spencer’s hand and dragged him out the door. “Yup, we’re good. Although how the hell did we do this? Running after kids? A kid! We had one! You have two!”

“You get used to it, right?” Diana laughed.

After two hours that felt like fifteen minutes, Molly, Ezra and William seemed to be winding down, fixating on when they’d be able to eat their candy. “You can have a couple pieces when we get back to the house, okay?” Michael said. 

Despite his work with the Bureau and Diana’s work in the medical field, they endeavored to be as present as they could be when they were home with the children. Diana and Michael looked exactly like Luke and Spencer had when they’d first had Diana, permanently tired but unable to trade years of uninterrupted sleep for the joy on their children’s faces. “Only if you give Pop Pop a reese’s cup!” Luke cried.

“And Mommy!” Diana added. 

“Do I get to eat any of my own reese’s?” Molly cried.

“Never.”

At home, all three kids dumped their treasure trove of candy onto the floor, checking out their haul. There were definitely plenty of Reese’s Cups, Mini Snickers and Twix to be had - and a lot of cavities if they weren’t careful. Luke and Diana deducted the Reese’s tax from Molly and Ezra and then allowed them to choose three pieces of their own to have now, saving the rest for later.

Henry and Alaina allowed little Will to have four pieces because most of them were on the smaller side. Finally the parents and grandparents all had a little bit of time to rest - that is until the sugar rush hit. “Poppy!” Ezra yelled, running full steam at Spencer and jumping into his lap.

Spencer let out a loud grunt and laughed as he fell to the floor with his grandson. “Careful! Poppy’s old!”

“No, you’re not!”

“How old do you think I am?”

Ezra looked at him quizzically. “Forty.”

“I wish!” That would have just a little older than Diana was now. He had a daughter in her 30s - man, time had flown. “But thank you.” He stole another tootsie roll much to Ezra’s dismay and then got pulled upstairs to read him a bedtime story.

“Can you tell the one about the Knights of Kwantiko again? I really like that one.”

“Of course.”

Molly started playing a video game with little Will. Michael, Diana, Luke, JJ, Will Henry and Alaina sat on the couches behind them, talking about work and retirement and everything in between for about an hour until they all noticed that Spencer was back from reading to Ezra and Molly and Will had fallen asleep in front of the TV. 

“We should go,” Henry yawned, leaning against Alaina’s head. 

Michael pointed toward the couch, which was a pullout bed. “You look exhausted. You can crash on the couch and Junior and Molly can share her bed for the night. We have our bedroom and Dad and Pop have the spare.”

“What about Mom and Dad?” Henry asked, barely opening his eyes. “They going home?”

Michael snickered and picked up a couple of blankets, placing them over his parents who’d passed out cold. “It doesn’t look like they’re moving from here. I think everyone’s covered. Then maybe we can go get pancakes in the morning?”

“Mmmm,” Diana hummed. “Pancakes. You good for pancakes tomorrow Daddy? Dad?”

Spencer was nearly passed out on Luke’s shoulder but managed to give them a thumbs up. “Sounds good,” Luke replied. “But for now I think we all need sleep.” He grabbed Spencer’s hand and pulled him, placing his arm around him as they walked to the bedroom. “You alive in there?”

“Barely. Very sleepy,” he mumbled. Luke couldn’t help but laugh. Even after 40 years together, Spencer still managed to be cute. “How did we do it? Raise a kid? A good one, even. It’s so tiring.”

“We feed off the energy of our kids, I suppose.”

Spencer nodded as they locked the bedroom door and collapsed into bed. “Can we bottle that?”

“Energy?”

“Yea. I could use a tenth of that.”

“I wish,” Luke said, yawning as his eyes closed. “We’d be rich.”

As they drifted off to sleep, Spencer thought about the gang of people in the house - JJ, Will, Henry, Alaina, Junior, Diana, Michael, Molly and Ezra; they were already pretty rich.


	103. Generations

“Hey Mom,” Molly said as she walked into the room. Her mother was sitting on her bed looking through a scrapbook, which was funny to her because no one had hard copies of photos anymore. “How are you feeling today?”

“Old and tired,” Diana snickered. She was 95 years old - she was allowed to feel a bit tired. 

Her own grandkids, Molly’s twins, Beatrix and Luke (after her grandpa), were on their way to visit. In college themselves now. How was that even possible? “Otherwise, I’m okay. Just looking at old pictures of me and Dad and Daddy.”

Molly smiled fondly at the pictures as she texted Ezra. She and Ezra had gotten their grandfather’s dimples. “I can’t believe you have physical pictures,” she teased. “Even in their time physical pictures were going out of style.”

“I’ve always loved the feel of the physical object,” Diana said softly, palming the necklace she wore each and every day. It was a small silver heart locket with two pictures in it - one of her family - her Michael, Molly and Ezra - when they were younger, and another from just before Michael had passed away. It was his time, but she missed him dearly. 

As a tear built up in the corner of her eye, she heard the door open and saw Ezra. “Hello, my sweet boy. “How was work?”

“I can’t wait to retire,” he laughed. “But with the kids still in high school and heading to college, I’m going to die at work.”

The seemingly never ending circle of life, Diana thought to herself. “How are my Athena and Brooke?” They were still in high school, born just 11 months apart. 

“They’re wonderful. Ready for college already,” he said almost sadly. “What are we looking at here?”

He reached over his mother’s lap and scanned the pages of the scrapbook. “Grandpa and Pop Pop.” His smile was soft and full of memory. “Molls, remember when we were little and went trick or treating together. They were what…carbon dating if I remember correctly.”

Diana started giggling, her tone like that of a small child. “Your grandpas were dorks.”

“That’s where you got it from.” Molly and Ezra spoke simultaneously. 

Ezra’s face lit up when he heard a knock at the door. “That must be my favorite niece and nephew.”

“Oh my grandbabies!” Diana exclaimed.

Molly leaned her head into her mother’s shoulder. It was bonier than it had been. She feared her mother was nearing her end, and while she’d had a long and happy life, it still felt too soon for her to leave. Whenever it did happen, Molly would take solace in the fact that her mother had had an amazing life. 

“Grandma!” 

Beatrix and Luke exclaimed as they walked into the room. They both kissed her on the cheek and sat at Molly’s side. “Are these pictures of our great grandpas when they were young?” Luke asked, pointing to a picture of his namesake. “That’s who I was named after right?”

“Yes,” Molly replied, kissing her son on the forehead. “And your middle name is from my Pop Pop.” Unfortunately, the twins hadn’t known Luke and Spencer for very long. Both passed away shortly after their second birthday. Grandpa Luke had gone first and two months later Grandpa Spencer went too. It was almost as if Grandpa Spencer wanted to make sure that the family was okay and then allowed himself to rest and be with the man he loved again. 

“Grandma Di,” Beatrix started. “Can you tell us some stories about our grandpas?”

Her fathers had been the most loving parents she could’ve ever asked for, and it always made her a little sad that her grandkids hadn’t gotten much time, if any, to spend with them. “Absolutely.”

Slowly, she flipped through the pages of her own book as well as ones her fathers had left to her. She told them all the story about how her fathers had decided to have her and about the woman that helped bring her into the world. “Kailanni Carter was my birth mother.”

“And great-grandpa Luke was your father. What made them decide on one of them rather than the other?” Bea asked.

“Your great-grandpa Spencer had some medical issues in his background that he thought best not to pass on to his child. Dad didn’t have any of that, so they chose him.”

Diana was forever grateful for that decision, knowing firsthand with her grandma Diana the pain that could come from such diseases. With the exception of a cancer scare, she’d been lucky in the medical department. “Oh, here’s a favorite picture of mine,” she said. “When I was very little, my dads surprised me with a trip to Disney World, but before that we watched all the movies together. We had a blanket fort and ate snacks - peanut butter cups for me and Dad. Beauty and the Beast was always my favorite classic Disney movie. Just like Daddy.”

No matter who hold Disney movies got, she still loved them. So did Molly and Ezra and now their kids did too. 

More pictures came up of her and Roxy - the first dog she’d ever had and the sweetest thing imaginable. Everything made her misty-eyed. Sure she’d known she’d had a good life, but looking back on things put it all into perspective even more. She was so thankful for the fathers she had and the things she’d experienced. “This was my talent show. Dad and Daddy came obviously. But I had a mountain of Aunts and Uncles that showed up to.” She went down the line pointing out Emily, Penelope, JJ, Hotch, Rossi and everyone else that had shown up. “I had a very supportive family around me.”

While Molly and Ezra knew these stories by heart, it was wonderful to hear them again, and Bea and Luke were captivated by the old-timey stories their grandma seemed to love to tell. “This was my first day at college. Daddy cried. This one here was my first car. Her name was Rebecca.”

“Rebecca?” Bea asked.

Her Daddy knew exactly what it was for. “Rebecca is for Rebecca Lee Crumpler, noted as the first African-American female doctor in the United States.”

Luke gasped. “That’s perfect for you!”

“I know!” Diana screamed, making her kids laugh.

The more Diana flipped through the pictures, the more animated she got. “These were from one of our first family vacations. We went with Uncle Derek and his wife, Savannah, as well as JJ and Will. I was interested in Derek’s son Hank for a while too,” she smirked. “But somewhere deep down I always knew it was Michael.”

As the hours wore on, Diana got closer and closer to her adult life, showing her grandkids her acceptance letter to medical school, her own sonograms from her own babies, first pictures of her own little family, with her fathers standing proudly behind. “That was fun,” she said, yawning. “I always love going through those pictures and making sure you little ones know where you came from is very important to me.”

“Don’t worry, Grandma. We’ll never forget,” Luke replied. “Love you.”

He kissed her on the cheek and then Beatrix did the same, wrapping her arms tightly around her grandmother’s body. “I love you too, grandma.”

“I love you more,” she whispered.

After the grandchildren left, she kissed her own two babies goodbye, telling them she needed to go to bed. It was only 8:00 PM, but for an old lady, she was tired. 

“Love you, Mama.” Ezra kissed her one more time before heading home, wanting to see his girls before they went to bed. 

Molly was the last one to go. “Thanks, Mom.”

“For what, baby?”

“For telling us stories. And for being an awesome mom.”

“I had good role models,” she replied wistfully. “Come here and give your mother a hug.”

Of course, Molly did as she was told, holding on tight to her mother before giving her another kiss goodbye.

When the door shut, Diana headed back toward her bedroom, holding onto the wall for support. She was 95, but she still managed to get around fairly well. 

On the front cover of her own scrapbook was a picture of her and Michael. “Hey baby. The kids say hi. So do the grandbabies.”

Slipping into bed, she wrapped her palm gently around the necklace she wore and pulled back the covers. The past few days she’d been feeling it - that pull that said she wasn’t long for this world for much longer, but the last thing she wanted to do was pass in front of her children and grandchildren. As she closed her eyes, a smile crept across her face, the pictures across from her giving her the peace of mind that her own father had felt all those many years ago - she and Michael had done well.


End file.
